Still Remembering -- Eight Months Later

Every once in a while I still think of Jason. I was going through my old ZIP disks the other day, stumbling upon some old QuickTime videos that Jason and I made for our Multimedia class back in college. One was our "classic" Star Wars video (along with Troy), another was our "energy-saving tips" video, and lastly, was our "how to tape an ankle" video. I couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.

The picture at left was the last time that I saw Jason, during Hoff's wedding in Mad-Town (Jason is just above my head, the person to the right). I remember that night talking about him getting deployed, telling me how nervous his wife Teresa was and all that. I wouldn't have thought nothing of it -- Jason would have been gone for a year on his deployment and that would be that.

I regret not going to his deployment ceremony last October (it just happened to be my college's homecoming) or when he came back last December when he was on leave for Christmas. It just kills me. I just wish I could go back in time.


Jason was killed by a roadside bomb while helping other injured soliders in an overturned Humvee on February 21, 2005. The week was absolute hell for anybody who knew him like we did.

I saw Teresa in September while I went back to South Dakota for our annual Fantasy Football draft. I didn't even know she was going to be there, but it was a relief. I didn't get the chance to talk to Teresa at the funeral (and I was sicker than a dog), but seeing her again really was therapeutic for me.

It's been eight months to the day that I had found out the awful news from a message on my cell phone and it still seems like yesterday. The pain of losing a great friend and a roommate will linger on -- he will not be forgotten.