So much for a lighthearted Blog

 

    Hello everybody! Well shit, sometimes life just happens and you are forced to change your course. And no I'm not talking about anything that has to do with voice overs, I'm talking about the life of my best friend Mege. Fortunately the only change of course is the tone of this blog.

    The first time I met Mege was when we were in a local volunteer firefighter academy together. (I am more than certain that I will have a blog or two about my experiences being a firefighter) We instantly connected. From there we were instant drinking buddies who loved to party. I was only 21 at the time.

    We remained best friends long after we were done chasing the firefighter dream. Shared countless pizzas and cold beers together and even more handshakes. But he ended up moving not too far out of town while I took a time demanding job outside the other end of town and we lost contact for awhile.Then things got really shitty for Mege. While I was dealing with my own issues. (Oh god do I have some blogs about those coming!) Things for me eventually got better but I was receiving reports about Mege struggling with drugs and even got arrested a couple of times. 

    I left my time demanding job and got a normal eight hour day job and one day reached out to Mege. We started chatting through text like nothing ever changed. I was hell bent on him getting his life back on track because he had so much to live for. The man had four children and a sister that he was very close with. The company that I work for had an opening at a hospital nearby his house. I thought perfect! Mege would be great for this, so I immediately texted him and right away he showed strong interest. As much as I hate to say it but Mege had a shaky past at best for reasons already mentioned but I didn't care. He had a clean slate as far as I was concerned and he was asking several questions about the job I thought there was no way he was going to flake out on me this time. So I got in touch with my boss, vouched for him and set up an interview for that Monday. 

    Monday rolled around and my boss reported to me that Mege did not show up for the interview. I was pissed at him that entire day, I couldn't believe he flaked out on such an opportunity and made me look bad to my boss. I told my wife that night that I was done with Mege, I had no choice but to cut him off. I logged onto to Facebook and went to his profile. As my finger hovered over the block button something came over me and I said no. I got it all wrong. I was committed to getting him back on his feet, I couldn't cut him off. Even if he relapsed, which I was praying wasn't the reason. But I'm sure he had some reason he didn't make it to the interview. I went to bed that night feeling much better about giving my friend another chance.

    The next morning, my wife burst through the bedroom door with horrible news. Mege suffered a massive heart attack and had to be revived and was in the intensive care unit. He was in the ICU at the very hospital on the very day he was supposed to start working at. I immediately jumped out of bed and rushed to my phone. I told my wife that I just talked to him the day before last and he was going to work with me. I just didn't believe her, I thought there had to be some mistake. I texted Mege, "Hey pal, I've been hearing some fucked up shit about you. I hope it's all untrue." Unfortunately it was true. Mege spent a few weeks in the ICU where they determined that he was completely brain dead. All hope was lost. 

    I spent an afternoon with him at the local hospice and even though the only thing he could do was breathe on his own it still felt like he was right there with me in the room. I mean he was physically there yes, but you know what I mean. We were listening to music and it felt like he was breaking my balls for liking certain songs. I shook his hand one last time and said goodbye to him like I was going to see him the very next day.

    Sadly, on January 10th, 2021, my best friend passed away at the age of 40. It's just not fair, I was thinking the poor guy is too young to die from that! Couldn't he at least have some sort of a warning episode? Not full blown death!? 

    Mege was built like a brick. I first thought he was Samoan but he was Hispanic. His shoulders were huge and he barely had a neck. He looked like an NFL player but he was horrible at sports which we always had a good laugh about. Mege had the best sense of humor and could definitely take a stiff joke. Mege never once felt like he had to be the funniest or toughest guy in the room but he often was.

    Mege had a heart of gold, the poor guy helped me and my family move several times and refused pay. The guy was my rock through my 20's he was the only person I knew that watched me do stand up comedy for the first time ever. Unfortunately he never got to learn about my voice over business. I'm sure he would have had something funny to say about it. And come to think of it, Mege had a very distinctive voice himself. 

    Although I am deeply saddened by the loss of my best friend I am that much more lucky to have ever met him and call him a friend. I don't think a day will go by where I don't think about him. I have so many funny stories about Mege, it would be a great idea to one day throw them all down in a blog. But for now I am going to have to step off. Please visit www.michaelvalice.com if you're interested in listening to my demos. I bid you a farewell.