Don't know how to title this post, so I will leave it blank. Yesterday, today and tomorrow marks a 10 year anniversary of probably one of the worst weekends of my life. And even though it has been 10 years (which is hard to believe), its still so fresh in my mind. Back then, this weekend, marked me losing 2 good friends.
On Friday, April 7th, my best friend Susan got married. This should have been a joyous occasion, however, in my minds eye, I was losing a friend. I was 19 and was losing my best friend, the one that I was, as my mom called it, attached at the hip with. The closest person that could be considered my sister. Me and Susan did everything together, went everywhere together, and I knew that after she got married, she wouldn't have time for me anymore, and this broke my heart. (Please remember, this was my thinking at age 19, not now.) I was sad that life would never be the same. Of course, now that we are older, both married, both with kids, life isn't what it was back then (and it shouldn't be), I still consider her my best friend, even though we don't get to see each other but a few times a year. So, I say all that to wish Jim and Susan a Happy 10th Anniversary, here's to many more!
Okay, back to 10 years ago. The day after Susan got married, I really did lose a good friend in a car accident. I can remember it like it was yesterday. His name was Jon Newhart, and he was a great guy. I was working that day, at the community college we went to, and talking to Jon online, about being the only one there and being bored. I told him I was hungry and couldn't wait to get off work. About 30 minutes later, here he shows up with a sub from the Sub Shop (my favorite sub place and also where he worked). He brought me my favorite, a Veggie Sub. I thought that was so thoughtful of him. Later that day, he, I and our friend Greg went bike riding downtown Jeff City. We had a great time doing that and afterwards, went to my house to cool down and relax. Me and Greg were going to meet Susan and Jim at Arris' Pizza that night for dinner, and invited Jon to come along. He said that he didn't know. Him and Jordan had planned on going to someones house that night. Later that evening, about 45 minutes till we were meeting for dinner, Jon called me and said that they changed their minds and were going to join us for dinner. He asked me if I wanted to ride with him to go pick up Jordan, but I wasn't quite ready, so I told him I would just meet him at Arris'. Jim, Susan, Greg and myself, go to Arris' and waited and waited for Jon and Jordan to show up. After several phone calls to Jon, we just figured they changed their minds about coming and decided to go to their friends house instead. We then headed over to Jim and Susan's house to watch a movie. We left Jon a voicemail, telling him where we would be. Later that evening, while watching the movie, my phone rang and it was Greg's mom, which was weird because we had never met, so I didn't know why she would be calling my phone. She asked if Greg was there, and I said yes and she wanted to talk to Greg. That's when we found out about the car accident. Jon had been fooling with the radio and going too fast on a curvy road, and over corrected when he noticed he was off the road, hit a tree, and landed in a creek. Jordan was beat up, but was okay. He got out of the car and was sitting on the top of the car, yelling at Jon, but they had the radio up so loud, he couldn't hear him. The wreck happened on a country road, and luckily there was a person out feeding their cats, when they heard the accident and called 911. They life flighted Jon to Columbia and the next day, they pronounced him brain dead.
This is a long story, but one that is near and dear to my heart. I had never lost anyone so close to me. It shook my world. There are many things I learned from this incident:
1. Life can be changed in a heart beat. How could I be riding bikes with Jon just a few hours before, and then next thing you know, he's dead? This blew my mind.
2. Take pictures all the time. I came so close to taking my camera with me the day we went out on our bikes, and I kick myself still, for not taking pictures that day.
3. Even though life might not make sense to us, especially when we are going through something so bad, God has a plan and we may never know His reasoning for doing what he does, but God is in charge and His will is best, not mine.
I know this is a LONG post, and I personally, don't care to read long post, but I wanted to share my stories/memories with my readers.