Sometimes you don't know how a moment is going to affect you until it presents itself. 

David Ortiz was reminded of that lesson Friday.

"I went to see my man," he said. "I feel better now."

The Red Sox DH didn't arrive at Fenway Park for his team's game against the Royals until around 5:30 p.m., but for good reason. Ortiz had jumped on a noon flight to New York in order to attend the wake for his friend of 14 years, former major league pitcher Jose Lima. 

In Ortiz' eyes, nobody loved life like Lima, and now he was gone.

"He was so full of life. That was the first time I've seen that man quiet. First time ever. He was a happy person," said Ortiz after going 1-for-4 in the Sox' 12-5 loss to Kansas City. "He brought a lot of happiness. When I saw him in that casket, I was like, 'We ain't [nothing].' That's a man full of life and happiness and the next thing you know, 37-year-old, massive heart attack. That hit home."

As Ortiz dressed in the same black shirt and pants he had worn to the Coppola-Migliore Funeral Home in Corona, NY, he clearly still had the afternoon's events in his mind. 

Before, during and after the game, Lima remained first and foremost in the slugger's thoughts.

"You can't get something like that out of your head," he said. "It's not like it bothers me when I was doing my thing, because when you're hitting, you're hitting. But you think about things."

For good reason.

Ortiz first met Lima -- who passed away Sunday -- while playing in the Dominican Republic winter league. And while their careers had taken them apart, each reunion was like the one before, a reality that Ortiz was reminded of upon seeing his old friend in the open casket ceremony.

"It hit me on Sunday. Ask the guys. I was destroyed on Sunday. I couldn't believe this," he said. "That's my boy, man. That's my dude. That's my dog, right there. Sunday when I found out about that you start thinking about all the things we did together, all the good times. 

"I don't remember being around him one day where he didn't make me laugh. Not one day. That's why I'm telling you when I saw him I had a 20-minute highlight in my head. I saw his kids, his wife, his family …"

But the moment Friday afternoon made for more than just remembrances. It also offered Ortiz the chance to reflect on his own struggles, which have often seemed to dominate his past two seasons.

All of a sudden, worrying about batting averages and home runs didn't seem quite as important.

"It ain't nothing. It ain't nothing," Ortiz said of his own problems. "That's exactly what I talked about today. I've got to love life. I see people [whining] and complaining about stupid things. That's why you never see me change my personality.

"I'm a huge believer in what God has for us. You have to live by that rule. If you try and change it's not going to work."

Ortiz had gone through this type of pain before, having to come to grips with the passing of his mother, Angela Rosa Arias, who died in a 2002 car accident. Lima's death, Oritz said, was the same kind of defining moment he had already dealt with then.

"Oh yeah," said Ortiz when asked if his friend's death had affected him in a similar way to when he lost his mother. "Nothing ever happened to me like that until now. [Lima] was good people. Good people. A really good person."