Prelude to the Disappeared
Hey folks. I hope everyone had a good weekend.
My weekend was quite bittersweet. I enjoyed it immensely, but it was tainted by news that I received on Friday. A very close friend of mine from my days in the desert - a guy who I'd worked with, eaten with, laughed with, and who I called "brother" died in a very tragic car accident on Friday morning. I found out about it during the early evening on Friday. It's hit me, I guess - but it hasn't really hit me, and I'm very conflicted about that. I worry, particularly during situations like this, that my time working funerals has dulled me to some of the impact of death, even among those who I care about. I don't doubt that if I were to have seen him in that state, I would have been an absolute wreck; and yet, that's how I feel I should be anyway.
I'll be writing up a real post, not just a blurb, about my "Little Brother" later today, probably. Because of the sensitive nature of the work that we did, I'm unfortunately unable to tell all of the stories, as many of them involved the work that we did in the field. They were often raucous; my "Little Brother" was only a month or two older than me, but I called him that because of both his stature and his maturity level. It's the back-and-forth banter that I'll probably miss the most; and also the way that he could taunt soldiers. I've never met another person who could make soldiers think on their feet like he could.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday; and if you're reading this, I want to reiterate something I've never said outright on this blog, but that I practice myself and that would have saved my "Little Brother": don't drive too fast, don't drive tired, and don't drive distracted. No one should have to go through the pain of losing someone like him for such a stupid reason as irresponsible driving. I expect better than that from all of you.
My weekend was quite bittersweet. I enjoyed it immensely, but it was tainted by news that I received on Friday. A very close friend of mine from my days in the desert - a guy who I'd worked with, eaten with, laughed with, and who I called "brother" died in a very tragic car accident on Friday morning. I found out about it during the early evening on Friday. It's hit me, I guess - but it hasn't really hit me, and I'm very conflicted about that. I worry, particularly during situations like this, that my time working funerals has dulled me to some of the impact of death, even among those who I care about. I don't doubt that if I were to have seen him in that state, I would have been an absolute wreck; and yet, that's how I feel I should be anyway.
I'll be writing up a real post, not just a blurb, about my "Little Brother" later today, probably. Because of the sensitive nature of the work that we did, I'm unfortunately unable to tell all of the stories, as many of them involved the work that we did in the field. They were often raucous; my "Little Brother" was only a month or two older than me, but I called him that because of both his stature and his maturity level. It's the back-and-forth banter that I'll probably miss the most; and also the way that he could taunt soldiers. I've never met another person who could make soldiers think on their feet like he could.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday; and if you're reading this, I want to reiterate something I've never said outright on this blog, but that I practice myself and that would have saved my "Little Brother": don't drive too fast, don't drive tired, and don't drive distracted. No one should have to go through the pain of losing someone like him for such a stupid reason as irresponsible driving. I expect better than that from all of you.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home