It’s been over two months yet I still find myself holding back tears every time a customer reads your memorial board and moves on after 30 seconds. They never got a chance to hear your corny jokes, to talk about your excitement for the future, about your beautiful wife, about your life lessons that you had for every partner. There are partners here who have never met you, who don’t have memories attached to every item in the store. Every time I grind coffee I think about how much you loved the smell and how you practically stuck your head in the container to smell the grinds the very first time I trained you. Whenever I do the pull I think about our final conversation we had about how happy and proud you were of the new job you’d gotten. I listen to beck on repeat just because you made me listen to them for three hours during clean play.

On a not so positive note, I’m angry. Angry at corporate for not letting us have time to grieve. Angry because we never even could close for a full day to process. Angry that I immediately had to go back on drive after getting the news. Angry that I had to work until an hour and a half before your service. Angry at the customers who asked me with annoyance in their voice why we’d closed early. Mainly, I’m furious that you had so many hopes and dreams that never got fulfilled.

Rock on, man. You are loved and remembered. You brought so much joy to people and your memory continues to do so.