This post is dedicated to Doug.

I'm ashamed to admit I don't remember Doug's last name. I met him around 1995. He was the boyfriend of Chris, my friend Amy's cousin. Chris and Doug lived in Dallas, and had come back here to visit Amy. And the four of us hung out.

And Doug had AIDS.

He was in his late thirties at that time. He has luxuriuos brown hair, kept perfectly groomed. brown expressive eyes, and a smile that was wide, toothy, and entirely infectious. He was quick with a joke or a laugh, and always had a witty relevant story handy. He was a bit lean, he had lost weight because of his illness, but was still an attractive man. He was funny, intelligent, friendly, giving, and interesting, and I am glad that I got to know him.

After they returned to Dallas, Amy told me that Doug was having a problem: the medications he was taking didn't seem to be working anymore. His doctors gave Doug the option of a new medication to replace the old, but they said Doug was a good candidate for one of the side-effect: blindness. He wasn't sure which way he should go. And I never heard which choice Doug took, if indeed he did.

Doug died in late spring 1996, of an AIDS related illness.

Today, December 1, 2008, is World AIDS Day. And this post is dedicated to Doug.


POLT Listening to the silence in my apartment

Recession means that people's incomes, at the employer level, are going down, basically, relative to costs, people are getting laid off. - George W. Bush