Since Doug was declared missing on September 11th, his wife Amy has not slept at their home – and justifiably so. And since the days following the 11th, she has been trying to decide what to do as far as where she will live. I knew she would be moving out of their house – because even I have problems going in there now – but I didn’t think she would choose to live next door.

Amy’s decision was to switch apartments with Woody, who lives directly across the hall from Doug and Amy, and is also my very good friend and Doug’s best friend for the past fifteen years. When Woody heard Amy’s decision – he kindly and selflessly agreed to swap apartments with Amy without a moment’s hesitation – because Amy deserves whatever she wants right now.

With the agreement in place to switch apartments, this weekend was slated for the moving and painting of both apartments. So myself, Christine, Brian, Gabe, and some more of our friends put all of our plans aside to help Amy and Woody switch apartments – and try and move on.

This past Sunday was the first time I had been in Doug and Amy’s apartment since the tragedy that stole Doug’s life away from him – and away from all of us. From the moment I walked in there – I felt strange. It was so eerie to be in there and not see Doug sitting on the couch watching television or working on his computer like he always used to – and then to have to see the lifetime of memories, hopes and dreams that he and Amy shred all boxed up was horrible. Like I always say, each and every knickknack in someone’s house tells a story – and being such good friends with Doug and Amy – I know most of the stories behind most of their knickknacks – and now those knickknacks along with the pictures, half used candles – and armoire full of wedding items they had serve as signs of a beautiful life destroyed – thanks to hate, anger – and evil.

After all of us finished switching the apartments on Sunday and were getting ready to begin painting, Amy handed me a bag full of some of Doug’s things that she thought Doug would want me to have. My eyes began to fill with tears as she handed me the bag – but I did not want to cry in front of Amy. Instead, I thanked her for the stuff, and told her that taking some of Doug’s things was the last thing on my mind – because I would give up everything I own just to have him back.

Yesterday was painting day, so Brian, Woody and I painted Woody’s apartment, which used to be Doug and Amy’s – and Amy and Gabe painted Amy’s new apartment – which used to be Woody’s. As we prepared the rooms for painting, I saw marks on the wall where Doug’s photos, posters and certificates used to be. Again, I began to get very sad as I looked at these marks, which served as the only solid reminder of Doug’s existence in that apartment. When we painted the first room, which was the bedroom – I had to roll my roller over similar marks in the bedroom – erasing the traces of existence of my friend – just like he was erased almost one month ago.

Both apartments are far from being finished and there is plenty of work ahead. I know that I will do all that I can to help Amy and Woody through this uneasy transition. Moving is never easy – but is doubly worse under these circumstances – so both Amy and Woody will need me and all of our other friends to get through this unbelievable time in our lives – because Lord knows that I do.