Doorbell Unnecessary

When I heard the news, I was shocked. We got the phone call on April Fool’s Day, and I kept hoping it was some kind of very sick joke and that the phone would ring and when I answered I would hear "Hi, pumpkin, are they pullin' your leg again?" But unfortunatly no, as we found out when we called another friend of ours to verify that this was true.

Cosmo was a dear friend to my boyfriend and I, and even though I only knew him for a little over a year and a half I miss him dearly. We were best friends with him and he was a teacher to both of us and a father figure to my boyfriend (who has known him since he was 15 and is now almost 24). He would call us every day and ask us to come over, occasionally offering us peanut butter and sauerkraut sandwiches. We played and recorded music together all the time, and luckily my boyfriend has all the tapes. Listening to them did make us feel better, sort of like he is still hanging around with us, just in another state of being.

Madison feels very different now, very empty and just like it is just another boring town. The last time I saw him was at my birthday party in the middle of March, hardly anyone I invited came over but he did (he originially said he wasn't going to). We had music on and at first he was dancing with Skylar, our cockatiel, and then with my friend Molly when she came over, and it makes me happy to think about that because I know he loves to dance and could tell he had a really good time.

One time my boyfriend and I went over to his apartment and he put on disco and we danced for hours. We have many many Cosmo memories. We always knew in advance if he was coming over because all of a sudden you would hear this yelling down the street, and it would get louder and louder as he got closer and then "Hi baby!"

One time he came over and I wanted to play a game of chess with him. My boyfriend was like "Watch out, she's pretty good." Cosmo replies "Naw, I'll beat her." It was really funny because he kept trying to bend the rules of where you could move your pieces, and when we caught him on it he was just like "Oh, you guys just don't know how to play by the championship rules." Eventually he knocked all the pieces off the board because I was winning.

Cosmo is a one and only, that's for sure. He's one of the most intelligent and religious people I have ever met, and knowing him and then his passing has actually made me more religious. This past week has been a very difficult one, and I wish every one who was close to Cosmo consolation at this sad time. However, the most important thing to remember is that he is now in a free and happy place--"Ya hear me?" I'll be sure to post any other fun Cosmo stories when I think of them.

Sara Christenson