Dealing With Personal Loss: My Story

Story time first: Two years ago or so I was obsessed with counting calories and exercising. I lost too much weight and was in a bad place, and I became friends with a man on MFP. He understood me and I would message him when times got bad. He helped me in recovery. He sent me a couple books to read on eating disorders and he offered to buy me a plane ticket to visit him or even to get away to somewhere else to be alone. Of course, I’m sure you’re thinking “stranger danger”, but I knew this guy after a year. We were friends on Facebook and I asked his friends about him. Was he safe? Trustworthy? Oh gosh, he was the kindest man I had ever known. It makes me tear up to think about his kindness. Anyways, we signed up for a marathon in my State and he flew over last April to run it with me. I had gained 30 pounds back over the course of the year and was feeling pretty bad, but he pushed me through the fog and we finished the race. Two hours slower than my best time, but hey, we did it. Then, it was over. He flew back home and I drove home. I didn’t hear from him again. I was wondering what happened, so I logged back onto Facebook, Strava, and MFP after having avoided them during recovery. He passed away in August. He wasn’t old or sick or overweight. He was fine. Until he wasn’t. Now I’m back on MFP, and all I can do is remember him. It’s pushing me to start counting calories again, because it’s therapeutic. I have all these resolutions for 2019, and I want to do them for him. It’s easy to do stuff for someone else, sometimes.
Anyways, if you’ve ever lost someone close to you and it’s pushed you to work on goals or better yourself, reach out to me or share a story in the comment section. How did they impact you? What do you do now in their remembrance?