Nice to see you again. Follow me, @SydneyOwen. Thanks for being here!
I have mentioned before that my blog is my therapy sometimes. Today is one of those days. A dear friend of mine from my childhood was in a snowboarding/skiing accident last week, was put on life support and passed away this morning shortly after they took him off of the machines.
How did I first find out about this? Facebook.
I still haven’t decided if this is awesome or if it sucks. I’m leaning more towards awesome. If I wasn’t on Facebook – I probably never would have known. See, I’m 1200 miles away from my life in Kansas. I’ve changed a ton. But the memories of growing up there remain, and Chris is a big part of them.
I was on FB yesterday, catching up on status updates like I always do, when Katie’s status said: Praying for the Quante’s and for Chris. I messaged her to find out what was going on. It’s been two years since I’ve been back home – but these people are the epitome of that saying “friends are like stars, you can’t always see them but you know they are there”. Our graduating class was so close it was ridiculous.
I didn’t hear back from Katie until I checked my phone around 5. I had just gotten to work, had a quick dinner and was washing up, ready for the shift. I checked my facebook again, and Katie had messaged me the story.
I immediately called my friend Ryann, who told me the entire story. I used Facebook to get in touch with our friend Matt, who is out in DC now. He actually has his cell phone number on his page – something that he gets a lot of flack for. He’s definitely happy that I was able to get his number. I called my friend Ashlee who is in San Diego. I contacted everyone that might be as out of the loop as I was.
I got word at 11 this morning that Chris had passed away. We’re not sure of the details of the service or what we’ll have as far as a memorial at home, but I fully intend on being there. I created a facebook group to keep people posted of the details, so nobody doesn’t know.
Chris was single-handedly one of the best people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. He was my sister’s guardian on the school-bus, teaching her the difference between a compliment and a pickup line. We owe him so much for helping her differentiate. He did the worm across the stage to get his HS diploma at graduation. I mean, this guy was one of those guys who was nice to everyone, the class clown, and just a real stand-up kid.
Chris – I’ll miss you. I’m going to go shotgun a Natural Light in your honor. And don’t think I’m not doing it.