I have read and reread this a few times this week, and it really is a wonderful tribute to someone who is gone from our lives far too soon. I was working at Longmont United Hospital when Adam was admitted a few years ago. He was one of my patients, and I was surprised to find out all that he had gone through in the years since we graduated.

I spent close to 2 hours that night after my shift just sitting and talking with him. I gave him my phone number and told him to give me a call when he was out of the hospital. Then I didn't hear from him for about a month or so. I remember it was New Year's Eve when he did call. I'm glad he did call, because for the next few years we hung out on quite a regular basis. He taught me things I never thought I would ever be interested in (like the teachings of Napoleon Hill and an appreciation for techno music) and in return I got him hooked on FarmVille and Sonic corn dogs. We even tried to make our own corn dogs once....worst idea ever. We decided to let the pros at Sonic make our corn dogs after that, haha. But we had a lot of good times, a lot of tough times, and a lot of interesting talks.

I am a true believer in things happen for a reason. I re-met Adam right after I started working at LUH. I think he is one of two reasons why I was meant to take the job there at that time. I''m glad I was able to have such a caring, gentle, funny person in my life, even if it was only for a little while.

Thank you, Mike, for sharing your thoughts and photos. I know reading your blog has helped me, like I'm sure it has helped others.

Jenny

I think John and Mike both summed up how awesome Adam was. He will always be among the kindest people I've ever known.

A few of my own memories:
Adam must have had an eye for the new nerd in town. Just like Mike’s story, Adam was the first to welcome me when my family moved to the area. Instantly friends and couldn’t care less about what anyone else thought.

He introduced me to the youth group and fostered an impressive love for Wednesday night laser tag. Adam took it very seriously, and it showed!

In middle school we learned that the sweat pants weren’t gonna cut it, carrying a pen in the collar of your shifts wasn’t cool, and that joining Science Olympiad wasn’t going to impress the girls. We did it all anyway.

Nobody would stick to their guns like Adam. As our kinetic energy machine was going up in flames during the state championship, Adam asked the judge for “permission to blow out the machine!” in order to avoid losing points. In fact, the only thing I can ever remember him giving up on was redheads…and that was probably for the best.

High school was a riot. Adam spent every day twisted around backwards in his desk so we could work math problems together. We built nerdy programs on graphing calculators, ditched class to work in the theater, and memorized a Night ant the Roxbury and English and French. Didn’t seem to impress our French teacher though.

I was riding co-pilot when he crashed his first car (actually his mom’s car). Not sure what else to say at the time, I offered to drive the crippled car back to his place since he was a bit shaken. Adam politely declined, claiming the mess for his own, but he was glad to have someone else there as he fessed up to his mom. She loved all us boys, even when we were bad. I’m glad Adam gets to see her now. He missed her terribly.

You never had to wonder who had your back with Adam. When I planned to marry my high school sweetheart, and everyone in their right mid was trying to talk me out of it…Adam stepped up without question and was the best man. A great way to think of him. Then when it turned out everyone else was right about the marriage (it went down in flames), Adam was first to arrive and last to leave cleaning up that mess.

Adam did his best to keep in touch despite incredible barriers. Once called me while driving to the hospital and said “I think I’m having a stroke, just thought you should know.” He was right: It was a stroke, and he was right that I wanted to know. I might have preferred he call an ambulance first, but he hated doing that.

No doubt that Adam went through a lot, and I’m glad he’s free from his illness, but it seems a shame that we couldn’t keep him around a bit longer. He was a good guy to have at your side.

-John