Six years ago this morning, I got in my car and drove to Quentin Road and East 36th Street to pick up my dearest friend, Douglas Farnum to drive him to work – at the World Trade Center. That car ride would always take about an hour – and that hour was the best one of the day – because all I would do was laugh. From the second Doug got in my car to the moment I dropped him off – Doug would have me in peels of laughter. Whether he was telling me a funny joke, making fun of a passing motorist or pedestrian – or just telling me some funny anecdote – he was a natural-born comedian. There were actually times when I would get to work and my face would hurt because I was laughing for an hour straight. When I got to work and started my day, I knew that no matter how good or bad my day would turn out to be – it was already a great day – because Doug made me laugh so hard that even before my workday started – it was already a great day…

…and then, I dropped him off to work on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 – and the laughter was forever silenced.

The reason for the end of the laughter is obvious to everyone reading this column. Whether you knew Doug, read my previous columns about him – or have no idea who he is – the fact that we stopped laughing on the worst day in America’s history clearly explains what happened to my best friend. It also explains why six years to the day – I am now crying rather than laughing.

But today, through my tears, I am not going to write about why I am crying – but instead – write about why Doug made me laugh so hard. The reason I will do that is because while the terrorists took my best friend from this world, myself, and everyone who knew and loved him – they did not take the memories we all have of him – and no matter how hard they try – they can’t take that away from me.

I have so many fond and funny memories of Doug that I could write a grillion-word column and I would only scratch the surface of explaining the man he was. I knew Doug for close to six years, and in all that time – I think he was serious for a collective hour. His constant jokes and never-ending humor was addicting, soothing, entertaining – and refreshing. In a world so full of hatred, sorrow and anger – Doug was a ray of sunshine that would have blown through any dark cloud like a bullet through tissue paper. He was never without a joke, a funny line, a pun, a quip, or a punch line. He always had a cure for a bad day, an angry mood – or a bad temper. Quite honestly, you could not be mad around him even if you wanted to – because he was, without a shadow of a doubt – the human cure for negativity.

Of the countless funny moments I remember about Doug, I will share just a few, and believe me when I tell you – they were some side splitters:

• Doug did not like his job at Marsh & McLennan and would always think of any excuse to leave early. So one day, we had plans for lunch. He called me at work and told me that he could not have lunch with me – because he told his boss that his grandmother died and he had to leave immediately – even though, unbeknownst to his boss, she died three years earlier.
• Doug, Amy, my girlfriend Christine (at the time) and myself attended our friend Igor’s birthday party at a Russian restaurant on September 9, 2001 (the last time I hung out with him) and we were served a full roasted pig (head and all) at our table. Christine immediately freaked out and went to the bathroom because she felt nauseous seeing the full pig on the table. When she returned to the table – the pig’s head was on her dinner plate – compliments of you know who.
• Doug used to trade DVD movies online for other movies with his group of hackers. (He once gave me Jurassic Park III – two weeks before it hit movie theaters.) The movies he traded were not exactly PG-13 (if you get my drift.) So one day, we went back to a DVD outlet store and he walked right up to the female cashier and told her he wanted to return two movies and exchange them for two new ones because he did not like them. Truth be told – he had already copied them and wanted two new ones to copy. Let’s just say that these movies were not suitable for children – and he had no qualms about returning them.
• We used to go to a Chinese restaurant in the mall of 1 World Trade Center for lunch everyday. One day, we were behind a Chinese woman who placed her order simply by saying, “Noodle!” From that day forward, Doug unofficially renamed the restaurant that very word and would set future lunch plans with me by saying, “Lunch, 12:30pm, Noodle.” He would even go so far as to order his food that exact same way with that one single word.
• After his first Christmas with his wife Amy, we had to dispose of his dying Christmas tree because he, for some unknown reason, put maple syrup in the water bin of his live tree – which obviously went bad. In order to reduce the mess the dead pine needles would make and remove the smell of rotting maple syrup – we dropped the dead tree out of his two-story window. As we did this insane act – the smelly, rotting maple syrup spilled all over my brand new sneakers – and all Doug could do at that moment was laugh.

Without exaggerating, I can tell you that there was never a dull moment when you had the pleasure of being around Douglas Farnum. He always had a joke, he was never without a comeback – and he always had a witty answer for everything. His life was a constant comedy show. While he did take his job, his marriage, his home life and his responsibilities seriously – he was never without humor – and that is why I truly miss him so much.

As I do what I do every year and stop my life to remember the sixth anniversary of the day 19 evil, heartless bastards took the life of my best friend and 2,748 other innocent human beings – I will do something I have never done since the day I lost Doug. I will, rather than remember the manner in which he died – I will instead remember the manner in which he lived – and thank God each day from now on that I had the six years I did with him to collect as many memories as I have – and remember them every single day of the rest of my life.

See you on the other side my brother. I love you.