Life has a funny way of putting things into perspective. Last weekend I was down in South Florida attending the Winter Party, an annual fundraiser for the LGTBQ Task Force. While going through my extensive wardrobe, I was bemoaning the fact that I did not lose the 10 pounds of weight gained while recuperating from surgery (and indulging in my holiday addiction of peppermint bark). In the midst of my pity party, I got a call telling me that my friend Dirk Shafer had passed away. Talk about a reality check! Dirk – who looked better in and out of clothes than most people who have ever walked the planet – was dead. I suppose I’m a terrible gossip columnist. My first thought was not to share a scoop with my readers; it was to mourn a friend. The next day, a sanitized account of his passing hit the web. While there’s more to the story, that’s ultimately unimportant. He was a man who had success in his field, was blessed with beauty inside and out, and yet he faced the same issues, insecurities, and demons we all do. Rest in peace, my dear friend.