Thanks dude for a life well lived
It’s never easy losing someone and having to imagine a world without them. Sometimes though ... a person packs so much good into a life that it’s hard not to look back and see your sadness turn into amazement at a life well lived.
My friend David
Jacobs left this world suddenly and unexpectedly back on June
8, due to a cardiac episode while on a business trip in Florida.
A story that began on the west coast in California 50 years ago, ended all the way on the other coast ... and the number of lives touched during that coast-to-coast half century trip are quite literally countless.
David said “dude” a lot and had this head-cocked, chin raised grin he’d give during conversations. He liked dangerously hot foods and extreme activities. He’d almost died from a virus in his 20s, but miraculously beat it. He’d broken his neck skiing and survived several other injuries from activities like repelling and rock climbing over the years.
Dave leaves behind a wife Jill, two sons Colin and Cam, his mother Genie, and countless others who are hurting. Even if you never knew him ... please say a prayer for their continued comfort. They lost a good one.
He was a people person. David was the embodiment of “never knew a stranger,” but not in an annoying, creepy way. In a genuine, helpful and useful way that left a positive impact.
In fact, he had made so many meaningful, long lasting connections in his short lifetime that friends were seeing each other at his recent memorial service not realizing that they each had known David separately.
How he would have loved a room packed full of people who he loved reconnecting and sharing stories. If he was looking down on that gathering of several hundred friends and family, I’m sure he was listening in on the conversations and considering the gathering one of his best accomplishments — and he had many.
David was the guy who put way more into a relationship than most other people he had connections with, and he was okay with that. And if you were going to be friends with him, you had to be okay with that too, because his genuine and intense loving and caring nature meant that he wasn’t going to be outdone in your friendship. If someone was going to initiate lunch, he’d beat you to it. If someone was going to offer help, he’d show up before you’d even asked.
An example of this would be a Facebook message I got out of the blue last spring after not having seen David in person for maybe four or five years. He invited me to a Kennesaw State Owls football
game during the team’s previously postponed 2020 season played in 2021. He said he had some company tickets and knowing how much I loved KSU, he thought of me.
I met Dave in Cartersville and he drove us to the stadium. We immediately began catching up, and it was like we’d never left off. The Owls won on an afternoon of perfect weather, and we drove back to my car after the game. I told him we should go to a Braves game sometime, and he agreed. I wish I’d known when I shook his hand and told him goodbye that he had so little time left. I wish I’d taken him to Truist Park one last time for one more conversation and one more hug and handshake. But I know for every hour not spent with me, he made sure he was investing on someone else who has a similar story to tell about David and his love.
We don’t get those guarantees though do we? We’re often reminded of that, but how soon we forget over and over again that the time for catching up is almost always right now.
I originally met David and his wife Jill at church in Rome when my wife Jessica and I were a newly married couple who had just moved to town. They were young enough to have a connection with us, but a half step ahead in life, which made them a wonderful resource for advice. I remember getting marriage and parenting advice from David, especially after our first daughter was born. Those types of friends are invaluable to new parents.
I never had to call in any major favors, but you always knew David was there if you needed help moving, fixing something, or a ride home at 1 a.m. That’s who he was.
That life of serving others and putting in the intentional time and effort to pouring into relationships is something I’ll continue to strive for in David’s honor.
He was a husband, dad, son, brother, uncle, friend, coworker and citizen. He was a wonderful example of the kind of gentle, forgiving, graceful, considerate and strong person a Christian should be as an example to the world.
I’ll miss that dude ...