Life is far too short, even if we were to make it to 100 years old. It's even shorter for some. The world lost another beautiful soul on Thursday, April 30, 2026. All because he felt alone and like he had failed everyone in his life. That couldn't have been farther from the truth, though.
Marcos Zuniga was an absolute icon. He loved music. He loved nature. He loved his family. And he loved spending time with all the absolute hood rats from our old neighborhood. We had some incredibly fun times. Stupid, a lot of the times. But fun, nonetheless.
Some people saw this guy with long black hair, walking all over town wearing a black trench coat, and they were scared of him or just tried to avoid him. I didn't. I wanted to be friends right away. I started bringing my friends from school around too. Jacob Bond, Taylor Cook, Jedidihah Jenkins, and plenty of others too. Over time, a lot of us ended up practically living there. And becoming family.
His mom, Tami, his grandma, Jan, and his little sister, Angel, are still, to this day, my second family.
I hadn't talked with Marcos in years. And I regret that. Life starts happening and old friends seem to fade into the background. I started a career, a family, and I lost contact with everyone for a long time. Wasn't intentional, of course. It happens to all of us. But I do wish I could've talked with Marcos on Thursday morning. I'm sure all of us wish that. He was loved by so many people. And he was only alone by distance — he was living in Colorado. I guarantee most of us would've hopped on a plane to go see him had we known what was going to happen.
All of this to say, check on your people. Life is hard, man. None of us deserve to face it alone. I can't even tell you how many people I've told to reach out to me if they need someone. This is what I mean. If you get close to this point, you feel alone, you feel angry at yourself and feel like the world would be better off without you in it… I'll remind you that you're wrong. And I hope everyone that sees this will do the same for the people in their lives.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. That's all I'll say about that part.
Life is too short. We need each other.
I love all of you, truly.
