<p><a href="https://www.dopeypodcast.com/www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast">www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast</a></p><p>This week on Dopey! It's ChrisMiss Time Again - and we remember Chris and think about what we've lost in our latest ChrisMiss episode. We are joined by Ted and Colin—two of Chris’s closest friends—for a long, emotional, laugh filled but ultimately tragic journey through grief, memory, relapse, recovery and death. They recount wild and deeply human stories of Chris: his powerful magnetism,  his “whatevs” persona, and the time he hugged a drunk driver who had just killed someone. Then, we go deep into Chris’s relapse, the shame that may have surrounded it, and the fear of losing connection.</p><p>From Mountainside to Katz’s Deli, from a poetry slam to the drunk tank, from legacy to myth to bionic legs traded for heroin—this episode is everything that made Chris unforgettable. PLUS: a classic Dopey voicemail from Tim in Philly involving coke, Cookie, and crackhouse head, and a replay of Episode 71 with Chris. It all ends with the classic version of “Bad Card” and a full-circle Dave and Chris musical outro. Stay strong Dopey Nation, and fucking toodles for Chris.</p><p><strong>Opening:</strong><br>Dave recalls <strong>Dave Marshall</strong>, the first Dopey community member to die. Dave, Chris, and Dave Marshall once recorded a now-lost episode that ended in a bizarre fight—possibly because Chris was trying to impress Marshall.</p><p><strong>Talking Grief:</strong><br>Dave asks Colin and Ted how they grieve Chris. Colin mentions <strong>laughing at dumb things</strong> and feeling like Chris is still there. Ted recalls <strong>vivid dreams</strong> where Chris walks him through his relationship with his wife, like a ghostly Scrooge-style guide. The dream was so powerful he woke up crying.</p><p><strong>Dreams of Chris:</strong><br>Dave shares that Chris is <strong>always dead in his dreams</strong>, and that he recently had one with both Chris and his mother (also deceased). Chris always knows he’s gone in the dream—making them painful but powerful.</p><p><strong>Trend of Death:</strong><br>The conversation shifts to the changing trends of death in recovery: <strong>less overdoses, more suicides</strong>, including people they knew.</p><p><strong>Settlers of Catan:</strong><br>Chris’s <strong>obsession with the Settlers board game</strong>—cheating newbies, logging fake wins on a wooden log, and playing alone while stacking stats. The actual Settlers Log might be lost.</p><p><strong>Connection & Community:</strong><br>Colin reflects on <strong>connection as the heart of Dopey</strong> and recovery. Chris embodied that connection for many.</p><p><strong>Why Did Chris Relapse?</strong><br>They dive into theories around Chris’s <strong>relapse</strong>:</p><p>He was doing well—finished his master’s, in a stable relationship, BTN job picking up.</p><p>Dave wonders if Chris thought <strong>the promises of recovery would be better high</strong>.</p><p>Colin and Ted say Chris might’ve <strong>feared losing relationships</strong> if he admitted he was using.</p><p>Shame and stigma—<strong>not about being an addict, but about breaking the recovery identity</strong>—were likely massive.</p><p><strong>Chris’s Persona:</strong><br>“Whatevs” was Chris’s favorite line, but everyone agrees—he <strong>actually cared a lot</strong>. He just didn’t want people to know.</p><p><strong>Origin Story:</strong><br>Chris and Dave met at <strong>Mountainside</strong>, where Chris became Dave’s <strong>“Eskimo”</strong>, showing him that 12-step worked.<br>Chris used to visit Katz’s Deli to <strong>impress Dave and his girlfriends</strong>.<br>They texted or talked <strong>every single day</strong> from 2015 to the day Chris died.</p><p><strong>The Fatal Crash Story:</strong><br>Ted and Chris are en route to a <strong>poetry slam</strong> when they stumble on a <strong>deadly car crash</strong>—they are <strong>first on scene</strong>.</p><p>Ted goes into shock.</p><p>Chris takes action—calls 911, finds a guy with <strong>smashed legs</strong>, then <strong>chases the drunk driver into the woods</strong>.</p><p>The driver is blackout drunk, crying, and doesn't know what happened.</p><p>Chris <strong>hugs the man</strong>, tells him he killed someone, and <strong>holds him as he cries</strong>.</p><p>Later, Chris <strong>keeps in touch with the man</strong>, who is sentenced to <strong>30 years in prison</strong>. It was his <strong>seventh DUI</strong>.</p><p><strong>Synchronicity:</strong><br>A year later, Chris relapsed. Ted and Colin had to <strong>call the cops</strong> on him.<br>The <strong>same officer</strong> from the crash scene showed up to <strong>arrest Chris</strong> and put him in the drunk tank.</p><p><strong>Chris’s Duality:</strong><br>Dave sums it up: “We’re the same people who kill people. We’re the same people who help people. And we can turn up totally wasted again at the drop of a dime.”</p><p><strong>R