No Words

On June 9, 2010 a dear high school friend of mine died of complications of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. (CML)  For the past six months I have followed  his wife's blog faithfully and have prayed for them constantly.  I've been thinking for a couple of days about what to write. I wanted to find exactly the right words to say, words to somehow ease their pain. Then I realized that I don't believe those words exist so, I thought I'd just convey one of the best times I ever had in High School.

Me and Van  July 1982 just after graduation.

It was on a blistering hot summer day. Me, Cindy (Smith) Cliften, Paul Valenzuela, Van, and a few other teens decided to go "ice blocking" at Sugarhouse Park. There is/was a great ice manufacturing place just west of the park where we could pick up large solid blocks of ice that were big enough to sit on and slide down the steep hills of the park. You were guaranteed to have hours of fun, and a wet fanny! Anyway, we drove my Dad's little car, some sort of Datsun (that ages us eh?). After plenty of times carrying an ice block up a hill and then sliding down as fast as we could, the ice eventually melted. We returned to Cindy and Van's neighborhood to drop off the first wave of people wearing grass stains and soggy drawers. Well, somehow the bet was made that Paul, Van, and the other football players who accompanied us could easily pick up my dad's small car. Well, they did. Picked up the rear of the car and thanks to the cold from the ice blocks we had previously stored in the trunk, the blistering sun pounding on the glass, and the torsion on the car...The back window literally exploded. I wish you could have seen the looks on their faces!! We must have laughed about that one for weeks! (Thank heavens my dad wasn't upset...)

I have a lot of great memories thanks to Van. Things were always a little brighter when he was around. Thank God he was a part of my world, even if it were for such a brief time.
May God bless his family with the strength and comfort needed.

I had the opportunity to attend Van's funeral on Saturday and I'll blog abot that after processing the events of the day.  Something about Van's death has made a real impact on me and I need to figure it out so that I can write something that truly reflects the day.