10.24.2004

Eric, Mike, and Pete's sister died. For those who I don't know in real life, this family is about as involved in band as it's possible to be. Mike is our drum major, a Young Democrat with me and dating one of my good friends. Pete is one of our main percussion instructors, and graduated from my school three or four years ago. Eric, the youngest and in my grade, is one of the best marchers we've got. He stands behind me in one of our main features. He sits one row over from me in history. He was on my quiz bowl team. And his sister is dead. Their mother is in charge of making our food, and their father drives the equipment truck. Both of them are on the Band Boosters Board. And their daughter is dead. I didn't know her at all, I'd never even seen her face. But I knew Mike and Eric and Pete, and Tim and Nora. She was in a car accident, and she died. She's dead. They will never see their sister again. I saw Eric crying. I saw Eric crying. It rocked my world. Eric doesn't cry. Eric is strong, he can do anything, he doesn't cry. And I saw him crying. This was before I knew what was going on, and I was freaking out. But you can't blame me -- if you knew Eric and saw him crying, you'd be freaking out too. Then, our director got us all on the bus and told us what happened and I started crying. I can't even imagine what they must be going through. I don't even have any thing to say to comfort them, because what could I say? And although I know all of them well enough that their pain hurts me to my core, I don't know any of them well enough that I'd feel comfortable going up and giving them a hug, which is my best form of comforting. I just. I don't. I can't. What can I say, what can I do, how can I make this stop hurting? And if it hurts me, how much more must they be hurting? And I can't do anything to make it stop.

I went back through my blog, and I mentioned Eric six times, and Mike four. Eric's six mentions were about: trying out for quiz bowl, I love quiz bowl, working with him in science, fighting over pop ice at band, finding out about Audioslave through him, him being in my history class, a mention of weird "low brizzile" people, and making mistakes in band in front of him. Mike's four mentions were: "Although I miss our old head drum major, our new one is spiffy too", I-survived-band-camp party at his house, a mention of Young Democrats, a mention of our drum major.

It just shows how they were connected to my life in many different ways. And they've lost their sister. What did they do to deserve that? There are only six people who are in my prayers every single time I pray at church, and two of them are Mike and Eric. They've been in my prayers for ever -- Eric close to two years, and Mike since the middle of last year. Why did this happen to them? I hope they realize that other people care about them and are mourning with them.