For you, Josh!!

Sometimes reality has a funny way of sneaking up on us. We all get lost in our own little world filled with school obligations, dates and specific deadlines that we lose sight of what is truly important.

This past weekend I took the obnoxious 3 hour road trip back to cozy Norton Shores, Michigan where I have claimed my lake-side residence for most of my life. I sat my lone bag by the familiar red leather couch. My mom came into the room, shortly after. She sat down and we had a brief conversation. She told me that she closed the deal on our house, and that she will be moving to Maryland by the end of the week. The whole moving to Maryland concept was anything but a new idea; she had been planning on doing it since the day my cousin died. Without thinking much of it, I began texting my local com padres.

I was gone the rest of Friday evening and into Saturday afternoon. Then went out again Saturday night. Sunday morning when I came back from church my mom's friend and Newaygo County attorney were sifting through every square foot of my house... throwing away anything and everything that held little to no value.

I went through my room and put everything I wanted to keep (but couldn't fit in the dorm or at camp) into unattractive brown boxes. I was walking back into my house from putting my last box into the Uhaul when I tripped over a small floor rug. This was the exact place where my grandpa (and hero) took his last breath. Looking around the common room I had numerous flashbacks of memories from the house. Countless hours spent on the floor plucking at my six string, looking through Caritas on the coffee table, long talks with my mom. The list can go on.
To think that would be the very last weekend I would be in that house. Shit. It's just hard.

The message: soak up every single moment of life and cherish the memories.