A human I never met in real life died Friday night. I only knew this person from the 140 characters or less he tweeted, from listening to his DJ sets, and conversing while playing “Words with Friends” with him on my iPhone.

A purely digital relationship. And as far as I know, this is the first time someone I’ve only known from online has died.

And yet, I find myself deeply impacted by his death and I feel like a friend has died.

Sam, I know you are already missed by those who were around you in real life. And after reading Greg’s letter to you, I still can’t even begin to imagine what Greg must be going through. Go read the letter if you haven’t. If it doesn’t make you feel, I don’t know what will.]

Sam, I wondered why you hadn’t tweeted in a day or two. Your quips are the stuff of legend. Then I found out you were in ICU via a tweet from another. It was difficult reading the hospital progress updates for you as they were posted at CarePages, but I was clapping for you to pull through. And you were constantly in my thoughts during that time. And when I read as it was posted that you passed away, I cried.

Sam, know that you made a lasting impact on me in 140 characters or less.