On Thursday I learned that one of my high school classmates died. Word is that Justin simply fell into a deep depression and stopped eating and sleeping. He deliberately starved himself to death. He would’ve been 35 this August. He’s the third guy from my graduating class to have killed himself.

This morning I learned that one of my former students died. Joey apparently killed himself a day or two ago–I don’t know why, I don’t know how. He would’ve been 23 this fall. He’s the fourth of my former students to pass away.

To the best of my memory, both men were gentle and quiet and kind. I originally wanted to throw “serene” in there, but clearly and sadly that wasn’t the case.

Five years ago, I wrote about another classmate who committed suicide. What I wrote then was a little bit abrasive, but I finished with this:

…whatever your troubles were, you were not the first person to have them and you will not be the last person to have had them. People loved you and would have helped if only you’d asked, and then let them help. May God rest you in peace–

I mourn Justin’s and Joey’s deaths, and grieve with their families and friends.

…

On a lighter note:

I was in the checkout line at the grocery yesterday. The guy in front of me still had some stuff on the conveyor belt when I started putting my stuff on there. I then put the little hand-basket on the belt. The cashier got a little confused about whose stuff was whose, and then figured it out. He said he was confused for a second because he couldn’t figure out how I got all that stuff into that tiny basket, unless I could bend space. He then told the other customer about how he’d seen a National Geographic show about the subject.

I hoped that when it was my turn the cashier would ask if I could, in fact, bend space, so that I could tell him, “I’m doing it right now.”

Alas, he did not ask. ‘Twould have been a nerdy moment, but what a nerdy moment!