A little bit of sunshine everywhere

Last week a friend of mine passed away. For those of you who knew Nigel Gough, you know he was a good friend, a great friend. The kind of person who walked into a room and lit it up without even knowing; the kind of person you met on the street and then spent the whole day with; he was the kind of person that you would want to know.

He never had a bad word to say about anyone and he was the only person I knew who had 1,613 Facebook friends and was actually friends with every single one of them.

Nyree said it best I think - "Nigel was a little bit of sunshine everywhere." and he was. The only regret I think Nigel would have is leaving behind his family and friends, because he lived the crap out of life. He had an ease about him, as if everything he did was effortless. From his acting to his friendships - Nigel put his whole heart into everything he did.

We met in Guelph - he came there as a mature student already having studied in the States. We first met when he approached me and said "Do you know Nyree??" and our friendship was cemented. He was a friend who was in and out of my life so much, but whenever we saw each other it was as if no time had past.

When he was visiting family in PEI last summer we met up for a whirl-wind day where we not only saw, but also somehow worked our way into the gay pride parade. I showed him my favourite places in Charlottetown, and we met Anne (with an 'e'). Magical things always happened when Nigel was around.

Its hard to imagine a world where he is not but I truly believe the best tribute to Nigel is to live the way that he did. No regrets, no limitations make the impossible, possible. So I'm vowing to go out there and take the world by storm, because its what he would want.


Nigel had a saying, he signed off every email, every Facebook update or wall post with the words shine on. Nigel's light will continue to shine on in the hearts of his family and friends he left behind. My deepest condolences go out to everyone he has touched in his too short lifetime - it is a loss we will all feel for a long time.

Shine on Nigel.