Just found out tonight that my best friend since Kindergarten has passed. I’m heartbroken. Please, friends, take care of your hearts!

Because we grew up in an era without cell phones, I have no pictures of us...but we were brothers. He pushed me to be a better person.

#ThreadOfThanks : As I posted last Sunday, I lost my best childhood pal to #SCD on Sunday. I’ve been off twitter since d/t “busyness” & to reach out to “old friends” -w that said, I’m eternally indebted to those who reached out via twitter, DM, Texts! 1/ http://www.marshallandmarshallfd.com/obituary/Donald-EastlandJr

2/ I’ll NEVER be able to catch up w the notifications over these last several days, but your concern, words of support, and prayers for comfort have been incredibly helpful during this time of heartache and grief!

My friend, Donald (Bubba to those who loved him- yeah, I know, I’m a Southerner, but that’s what his Momma & his siblings called him & I was also a soul sibling) was a champ of a guy, who always wanted those around him to be happy. He never needed to be “the life of the party” 3/

Over the course of the last several days, I’ve definitely seen my role in life reiterated ten-fold. You see, “Bubba” was always smarter than I. He pushed me to study harder so that we could converse about the true (& difficult) things in life 4/

His intelligence & conversational skills caused our crew from my little, small town in TX to always aspire to be better...and to always respect ppl from all walks of life. I can’t expound this on twitter but buy me a drink sometime & ask me about it 5/

As I hear the events of his death unfold, I’m feeling terrible about not being the one that he called Saturday night as I’d moved >1K miles away from him 6/

He called another (non-medical) friend of mine on Saturday night indicating that he “wasn’t feeling well” & asked if my friend could bring him some Maalox from the store. My friend, in Covid-world sterility, did what was asked & dropped it off for him at his house 7/

Early the next morning, my buddy that delivered the Maalox called to check in on him w no answer. He called- time and time again. No answer. After multiple attempts w no answer over time, he drove back over to his house. 8/

With multiple calls & no answer, and seeing Don’s truck at the house, he did what any good Texan would do and kicked in the door...he found Bubba...dead...between his bedroom & bathroom on the floor 9/

How many times in this world do good ppl suffer #HeartAttacks while thinking it #Indigestion? I’m betting HUNDREDS of thousands of times...conservatively! 10/

Don started smoking in college (that was now, astonishingly, so many years ago). We had multiple “conversations” about why I wanted him to stop. I failed, as one of his best friends, to convince him. 11/

His Mother & Father (w whom I’d spent so many nights/weekends over the course of my childhood) are “survivors”. They are exponentially more heartbroken than I. I couldn’t be there for the #CovidEra graveside service today to hug them & cry w them 12/

With all of this said,a piece of my heart has been forever removed. Also, w this said, I’m grateful that God has given me a big enough “heart” to bear this burden. As I mentioned in my original “twitter announcement” about this,I want each of you to PLEASE take care of your 13/

I hate losing friends.

I REALLY hate losing friends to #HeartDisease prematurely.

Take care of yourselves and your loved ones.

My role in this world is #TheHeart - physically, figuratively, and spiritually.

Tend to it in ALL of these ways, my friends! Fin/ #RIPBubba