I don't know the what the five stages of grief are but I am in the melancholy stage now. When I heard my Contractor David Duncan passed away suddenly, I was in unbelief and shock for a long time. I really expected to get a text from him or see him walk up the front walk to the house at anytime. When I got home yesterday the house was quiet since no one was there working. It was sort of surreal. I walked around the house admiring his work knowing that there was no one part of the house that he did not build, everything has his finger prints on it. He has 4 guys doing the work but he made sure everything was done right before the end of each day. David sometimes had his dog Simone with him and would let her into our back yard. Axle had a blast playing with Simone. We left Bella in the pen because we were not sure how Bella would react to Simone. Simone would stay in Davids truck for most of time. I would take a dog treat to Bella and Axle, I would also take one to Simone while she waited in the truck.

I knew David in High School but we were not close friends. He was the football jock and I was the geeky car guy so our paths did not cross often. When I started to look for a Contractor after the flood his name came up and I knew he was the guy for the job. We became good friends these last few months. He was an honest and fair guy to work with and I trusted him whole heartedly. It was fun talking about our High School days and common friends we had even though our paths rarely cross back then. I will miss our conversations. I pray for his family and the guys he had working for him. He will be missed.