About a year ago, I met the husband and wife gaming team of FO (husband) and FA (wife) via Xbox Live during a game of Left 4 Dead. I hit it off with them pretty quickly and we became friends who gamed pretty regularly. As anybody who's spend enough time doing online gaming can tell you, it's pretty hard to meet cool people online. I always had a lot of fun with them, even if we were losing.

A few weeks ago,I received some upsetting news on FA's Facebook page: Her husband had passed away. I was even more upset when I learned that FO's death was a suicide.

This put me into a state of shock. I had never known anybody who killed himself before. On top of that, it was something I never saw coming. Talking to him, I never got the impression there was anything wrong. He was a really cool, laid back guy who seemed pretty happy with his life. He had a job he liked and a wife who loved him. He was one of the last people I'd ever peg as suicidal. I have to wonder just what happened? Was it some kind of mental unbalance? Was there something in his past he never completely got over? We all go through rough patches in life, some worse than others. But I can't even begin to fathom the kind of dark place you have to be in to actually want to take your own life.

But as upset as I feel, FA feels far worse. The two of them were together for 13 years. She seems as clueless as what led to this as I am. I guess FA didn't leave a note. As sad as I am over FO's suicide, I'm also somewhat mad at him. Sometime,s I wish I could reach into the great beyond, shake him and yell "Don't you see what you're putting your wife through?" What FA is going through is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

To anybody reading this, I can't stress this enough: If you're feeling very depressed to the point where you thing suicide is the only solution, don't do it! Talk to family. Talk to fiends. See a therapist. But all suicide is is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Get yourself help. It could be the best thing you've ever dome for both yourself and your loved ones. Even if you ignore everything else I ever tell you, at least listen to this.