"With whip and drizzle on it."

[cosmicdisaster]

So here's to the man who grabbed life by the balls and gave it all he had. Who lived as an example to the rest of us. Who was the most patient, humorous, charismic person I've ever met. We love him, we miss him, but the truth is he lived a life all of us hope to aspire to. He did everything he wanted to do, lived in countries most of us have never heard of, and told us all stories we couldn't help but giggle at. Whose accent made everyone laugh and try to imitate it. Every shift with him was great, he made even the most stressful days funny as hell, until our sides would hurt leaving because he was just that funny. He was loved by everyone, and his loss has left a big hole that no one else could possibly fill. You get used to hearing that people have died of drug overdoses, their roommates found them in the bathroom with needles in their arms, etc.. you learn to desensitize, chalk it up to another victim of the disease of addiction, and make a vow to work a better program to make sure you're not next. But a warm, happy, curageous man dropping dead with no notice.. there was nothing to say to make that okay. It makes it seem so unfair that life goes on for the rest of us, that we still have to ring up customers and answer questions about coffee. Like the entire world should stop and grieve the loss of David, the best Starbucks employee I've ever had the privelege of working with and getting to know. When the phone call came all I could do was stare in disbelief as Andrea broke down and told Amy and I that he was gone. When I told Pixie and she began to cry the tears came, and then I had to throw up. The next few hours were a blur of tears and laughter, as almost every staff member (and some who no longer work there) came to Starbucks and rehashed his stories, cried, and hugged each other. A few took turns putting on aprons and working with those of us on shift, because all of us together were in a pained daze that was not condusive to getting anything done. Beth and Patti came instantly, both crying and hugging all of us. Beth surprised me with her tears, because since she's been with us we've all assumed she was a heartless bitch. I've known for awhile that she's not, but I've still never seen her particularly emotional. But she closed with us and promised us she'd do all she could to make sure every last one of us could attend his memorial service. His family lives in England and Australia. Even Justin was there, and he hasn't shown up since he was fired from our staff months ago. But when he talked to Pixie and heard her hysterical, he promised he'd stay until she arrived, and he did. I can't type any more because now I'm crying again, and I can't imagine Starbucks without him. He wasn't supposed to die. He was supposed to be our bouncer and wear assless chaps to protect us girls from the big burly men. He didn't use. He's not supposed to die. But he lived, and he lived a lot better than almost anyone I've ever known.

So here's to David, who was as much a part of Starbucks as the coffee.