I lost a friend this week. He was a fraternity brother. I hadn’t talked to him in many years. I knew him when we were in college, both young and idealistic; ready to take on the world, or just the next party.
The loss has put me in a contemplative mood. I’ve been copied on dozens of emails from other fraternity brothers, sharing their fond memories and in a sentence or two sharing something that captured who Eric was to them. His smile, his love of life, his crazy antics and boisterous personality are all comments that have surfaced over and over.
That was the young Eric. Full of life.
To be honest, I don’t know the man that Eric became. We lost contact. His passing reminds me of a more innocent time. A simpler time. A time when anything was possible. I hope that his life kept the spark, the hope and the fun that I, along with countless others, recall about him from decades ago.
My guess is that in some ways it did, because that is who he was. And in other ways, like most of us, I suppose he may have been beaten down by life’s demands and responsibilities at times. We all grow up and face hardships and challenges. Sometimes we stumble, sometimes we lose our path, or sometimes we need to forge a new one.
Certainly, Eric’s passing, is a reminder that life is short. Life is unpredictable. And life is captured in those special moments with those who cross our paths. It’s a reminder to live a life with intention and to enjoy and cherish every day, because we don’t know how many lie ahead. Perhaps, it’s also a reminder to think back to our more innocent selves and embrace parts of who we were before we had to grow up.
I hope that Eric had an amazing life. I’m glad our paths crossed as pledge brothers in January, 1978. RIP Eric Steinkraus.
