“The rains have ceased, and we have been graced with another beautiful day… but you are not here to see it.” ~ Elidibus
Yesterday I received some news that broke my heart. Our Dear friend Merikosum Neaman (Alex) passed away on Jan 12th of pancreatic cancer. At the end of last year, Merik had been in pain for a few months. At one point he had some biopsy’s done and told me he wanted to pull a few people together to tell about it because it had came back as cancerous, though they didn’t yet know what kind. For two months it stayed in that state of flux not quite knowing what kind, and him having more tests, more pain, and more waiting.
For the last 10+ years Merik had become such a great friend and big brother to me. Reliably just always there. A pillar of stability. Always watching over us and enjoying time with us. Always willing to lend a hand, or an ear, and somehow able to offer the kindest, most fair and compassionate advice. Willing to troubleshoot computer issues, or talk the pros and cons of computer components. He was that friend that you could sit in chat with forever, either chatting up some topic and laughing, or sitting in complete silence, and it didn’t matter. It was never uncomfortable.
We had plans to meet up last spring with a few of us, but that had been squashed by the corona virus pandemic. I will forever regret not getting to meet him in person.
He had been one of the first people I met when Blindrage and I joined Distant World LS so many years ago now. At the time we both played Bard, and so had that in common. I remember when we both finally ended up finally getting the Moogle Bow each – back when that was a really cool thing in 1.0, and when it wasn’t as common or easy occurrence. We went and took a picture together with both our bows. So many memories in that 1.0 era I will cherish. We would both offer another friend who had a YouTube channel, help with some of his productions. Those times were filled with fun and laughs.
Then the downtime came between 1.0 and 2.0, and collectively with other members of Distant World, we played other games together, from Rift, to WoW, to Minecraft, Guild Wars, and so many others. We built Uldah in Minecraft on Merik’s server that he hosted for us. It was great. We as a group even built a Theme park world and built out some pretty amazing things that I’m sure are pictured on this blog somewhere.
We were all so excited for the launch of ARR. When it came out, Merik and I were both part of the same static that ran some Binding Coil of Bahamut… back when doing mechanics was actually a requirement. He occasionally stream some of it on his youtube channel. We would also help other FC members try out that content as well. Merik was always up to humor me, when I would get an idea for a video that wanted to make whenever I was inspired to do so. Sometimes at the end of the videos, I would add some funny bits that happened while we were filming. This here, when we were “caroling” was one of my favorites with Merik.
There is so much to mention, but this is getting hard with the tears not wanting to stop now. I realize this post doesn’t properly reflect the decade of memories that I will cherish forever. Merik, thanks for becoming my dear friend, big brother and mentor. Thank you for always looking out for all the members of Distant World. Thanks for stepping up and always keeping the peace so gracefully in promoting people to be thoughtful of others with both their words and behaviors. Thanks for your kindness, your friendship, your reliability and your plain good hearted nature. I will miss your sighs at bad jokes, your time outs for cooking your weekly steak dinner to enjoy! I’ll miss all the laughs and all the excitement of new content. I’m so glad that you got to finish Endwalker with us, and was able to finish the story we all started so very long ago.
Merik – You were truly one of my favorite people, and from the sounds of all the comments and pictures and memories shared yesterday in Distant World when we found out, you made an impact on most everyone you met. I just really wish that you could have known the extent how loved you were by everyone, and how your mere presence impacted them. You’ve always had my admiration. Thank you so much for being part of our experience. Thank you for your friendship, and all the valuable things you taught me. It will forever be appreciated. I will sorely miss you.
Katella's Corner 
Kat, Im so sad to hear about Merik. He was always very kind to me and willing to help with anything I need people for. I would just have to message him and he always said okay and off we went. 🙂
That was so much how he was. “You need something? Ok lets go”
I don’t know him but from reading. He sounds like an amazing person. I’m sorry.
Thank you Cinnamon. He really was.