Simon

Earlier, we met Simon's artwork, sans Simon. Here we have the work and the artist posing together. For more about Simon and the art he displays to sell, you can check out his site.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how the dead get frozen in time.

I had a friend, a close friend. A dear friend. He died 15 years ago at 27. He's been dead longer than the entirety of my knowing him in life. I think about those of us who have kept ourselves alive, moving forward, aging...and I wonder how he would have aged along with us. I don't doubt that we wouldn't still be friends, even if we didn't talk all the time. Some of the people I consider myself closest to today, most fond of, I don't speak to enough. But I suppose that's part of pushing forward into this world, as we find our ways as best we can. It's easy to forget the support we got and support we gave to those closest to us. We take these things for granted, even if we don't mean to and don't even realize it.

It's weird to think of him stuck in time at age 27, especially since he was older than me. Now I have 13 years on him, and it's hard for me to think of being friends with him at that age. Not that it's hard for me to consider being friends with people younger than me, but him especially, since he didn't make the trip with the rest of us.

He'll always be stuck there.

If anything, the whole experience made me realize the importance of telling the people that mean the most to you in your life how you feel about them. Tell them that you love them, not because you were prompted by some holiday or birthday celebration, just tell them. Just say it. It doesn't have to be this constant thing, but just remind yourself how much someone special really means to you, and then let them know it. Tell somebody you love them.

I have to make a phone call.