Change of Pace
Change of pace. I’m a little behind on the photo thing anyway.
I want to talk for a minute about something that’s been bothering me. I don’t want to mention any names, but I’d like to tell you about a friend of mine.
Saturday morning, I woke up at 5:45am so that I could get to work by 7. While waking up in bed, I usually grab my ipod touch and check my email/facebook/twitter just to get my eyes open. When I checked my facebook, I found something that immediately brought tears to my eyes and completely threw me off. One of my very best friends has a very close sister who is married to a fantastic guy. It sounds very stretched (my friend’s sister’s husband), but I know them. I wouldn’t say very well, but I would say enough that I would be comfortable with them in pretty much any situation. I used to go to football games with them in college, we hung out one night in Charlotte after a bowl game…I even had eventual plans to visit their home and go to their favorite hangout.
Saturday morning, my newsfeed told me that he had died. Honestly, I expected everything but that. When I saw the RIP messages, I thought “what a terrible joke to play…that’s not funny.” It took until I googled his name for me to really believe it.
Again, I can’t say I know him well enough to say anything of importance, but I do know how positive he was. If there’s one word I can think of to describe this man, it would be optimistic. He always seemed to be smiling or joking or playing around. I don’t think I ever saw him serious. He was just so happy and funny and I couldn’t believe this would happen to him.
Furthermore, I still can’t believe this would happen to his wife and her family. These are some of the kindest people I know. His wife is smart and happy and always seemed to have everything together. My friend looks up to her sister so much and I know she feels all the pain of loss as well. Their parents were always willing to help and usually just went above and beyond and offered to help before asking. A good example is that this computer I am using now is sitting on a desk that they gave me when I got my apartment. My vacuum used to be theirs. I even have a EuroChopper that was a double gift at the wedding.
I feel guilty being so sad about this because he isn’t my family. I just feel so bad for my friends and what they’re having to deal with right now. The loss was so sudden that I can’t even imagine how hard it must be. None of them read this but I am pretty consistently thinking of them and wishing healing for them. There’s nothing I can say to make it easier. People used to tell me to think of the happy times, but that doesn’t help because when you’re done laughing you start crying again. All I can say is that you have to take it day by day. Just make it through today and deal with tomorrow when it gets here. It gets easier, even if you don’t notice at first.
