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My friend JR
Feb. 7th, 2003 10:13 amAbout eight years ago, in December of 1996, I took a new job. The agency that I joined had just won a major account and was staffing up like crazy. One of the other people who was hired around that time was JR McGrail. (Yes, that's his real name, and I'm using it for reasons that will be clear later.) He was smart and funny, about 4 years older than me, well-educated and as interested in popular culture as I am (believe me, that's a tough combination to find). We hit it off immediately. About two weeks after I started, we went out for drinks and ended up staying out for EIGHT HOURS. The funny thing was, we had no idea what time it was! When I got home and saw that it was 3am, I just assumed the clock was wrong!
So, yeah, JR is gay--he was the "new friend" that my "gay husband" P got jealous of, in that story in Morri's LJ a few days ago. Amazingly good looking, with wavy black hair and deep blue eyes and a cleft chin. We spent tons of time together over the years, even after I left that agency and moved on to where I work now. We nursed each other through romances that didn't work out, jobs that annoyed instead of fufilled, and family troubles (his dad had a stroke a while back and still can't really talk).
In August of 2001, his best friend John Loiacono lost a two-year battle with lymphoma. JR was devastated. We spoke and hung out often that fall and winter, as he tried to make sense of things. One thing he did do was move on from where we had met to another agency, though he was growing tired of the business.
Things didn't really work out there for him unfortunately, and he was laid off this spring. I spoke to him in June, just after he was laid off. He decided to do some travelling over the summer. JR and my old supervisor Dan heard from him around July 4. But then things began to go awry. JR didn't show up for the memorial service John's father gave at the anniversary of John's death. (He said he'd missed a train, but that's just not like JR.) Our friend Fred, who has a country house upstate, saw him at the house around Labor Day, and JR was acting oddly, but no more so than he sometimes did. Though, his hair was strangely long and bushy.
Over the fall, I had been calling his cell phone around once a month, just letting him know I was still thinking about him. I figured he was taking some time off to get his head straight, and none of us were that concerned about him. Then in November, Dan called me to say that JR's home phone had been disconnected! His cell still worked, though, so we weren't panicking yet.
But the other day, Dan called to say that whoever was in his apartment was not answering the bell. (Both Dan and I sent JR Christmas cards, and they weren't returned.) So Dan decided to call JR's mom, who lives in Florida.
SHE HASN'T HEARD FROM HER SON SINCE MOTHER'S DAY 2002. She finally hired a private detective, and knows that he has sublet his apartment, that he was seen in St. Petersburg Russia a few months ago (he has a friend there) and that he was in London recently. Of the people I know, the last person to talk to him was Fred. He hasn't returned any of my calls, or anyone else's.
So I used his name in this entry because I'm really worried now. I just want to know he's safe. If anyone out there has come across him anyplace--if he's still using his own name--please let me know. Thanks.
So, yeah, JR is gay--he was the "new friend" that my "gay husband" P got jealous of, in that story in Morri's LJ a few days ago. Amazingly good looking, with wavy black hair and deep blue eyes and a cleft chin. We spent tons of time together over the years, even after I left that agency and moved on to where I work now. We nursed each other through romances that didn't work out, jobs that annoyed instead of fufilled, and family troubles (his dad had a stroke a while back and still can't really talk).
In August of 2001, his best friend John Loiacono lost a two-year battle with lymphoma. JR was devastated. We spoke and hung out often that fall and winter, as he tried to make sense of things. One thing he did do was move on from where we had met to another agency, though he was growing tired of the business.
Things didn't really work out there for him unfortunately, and he was laid off this spring. I spoke to him in June, just after he was laid off. He decided to do some travelling over the summer. JR and my old supervisor Dan heard from him around July 4. But then things began to go awry. JR didn't show up for the memorial service John's father gave at the anniversary of John's death. (He said he'd missed a train, but that's just not like JR.) Our friend Fred, who has a country house upstate, saw him at the house around Labor Day, and JR was acting oddly, but no more so than he sometimes did. Though, his hair was strangely long and bushy.
Over the fall, I had been calling his cell phone around once a month, just letting him know I was still thinking about him. I figured he was taking some time off to get his head straight, and none of us were that concerned about him. Then in November, Dan called me to say that JR's home phone had been disconnected! His cell still worked, though, so we weren't panicking yet.
But the other day, Dan called to say that whoever was in his apartment was not answering the bell. (Both Dan and I sent JR Christmas cards, and they weren't returned.) So Dan decided to call JR's mom, who lives in Florida.
SHE HASN'T HEARD FROM HER SON SINCE MOTHER'S DAY 2002. She finally hired a private detective, and knows that he has sublet his apartment, that he was seen in St. Petersburg Russia a few months ago (he has a friend there) and that he was in London recently. Of the people I know, the last person to talk to him was Fred. He hasn't returned any of my calls, or anyone else's.
So I used his name in this entry because I'm really worried now. I just want to know he's safe. If anyone out there has come across him anyplace--if he's still using his own name--please let me know. Thanks.
