i was told by a friend to “get on it” hehe about writing another entry. i didn’t think anyone really read this but i’m glad to have a fan or two hehe. thanks matt! well…this year hasn’t exactly gotten off to a good start. one of my good friends from gwu, justin alston, passed away on the 17th. his funeral was this past thursday in greensboro. i didn’t think i was going to be able to get there but luckily gwu took some vans to the funeral. my boss let me take a comp day and so i went. on the way there we all shared fun stories about justin and how he always made us laugh. i think we all just didnt want the realness of the situation to kick in. we got there about an hour early and the church was already half full. many people that i graduated with were there. doctors, nurses, family, friends, and the whole phys. ed. department from gwu was there too. i couldn’t bring myself to go up to see justin’s body. i just couldn’t. even with the tugs from friends i just sat down in the pew. all i could see was his forehead. it just didn’t seem like it could be real. then…they started playing “angels among us”, “the dance”, “hope you dance” and some other song about a mom and a son having to say goodbye. i thought i was going to lose it before the service began. i was able to keep all but a few tears in. then every few minutes i just would lose it. all the songs that people sung were just perfect and there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. the balcony was full too. i really lost it when they started wheeling him out of the church. i just couldn’t fathom how his mom and family were feeling if i was having such a hard time with it and i was just a pretty good friend of his. at the end of the service people stood up and shared stories and told things about justin. that was so hard but so meaningful to see how he had touched so many peoples’ lives. the procession to the cemetary had to be at least a mile long. you couldnt see the beginning or the end. once there we were able to speak to the family. his mom remembered me coming to see justin in the hospital and said she had a picture of me and justin at an awards banquet. oh how i wished i could see it. he just meant so much to all of us. he will definitely be missed.
well i’ve gotta get some sleep. it’s been so awesome to have 2 days off because of ice this week already. i guess we have to go back sometime 🙁
