The 5th Year

New Year's Eve 2001

Five years ago today was the last time I talked to my best friend. I rushed off the phone because I had just gotten to a friend's house to spend the night and had spent all evening helping at our church's Valentine Banquet.  I told him I'd talk to him sometime this week which was nothing out of the ordinary.  We usually chatted 2-3 times a week, unless he was out on the sub.  I told him I couldn't wait til he was home on leave in June.  It had been almost a year since I had seen him.  He said he wasn't sure if it would be June or July.  He seemed himself;  frustrated with work, but otherwise fine.

Glenn, Seth, Tim

This 5th anniversary has been more difficult than the last few.  For weeks now, my emotions have been on edge and running high, my thoughts are constantly on him.  Memories creep into my mind at unexpected times and catch me off guard.  

Most of the time we spent together was at youth group and church events, and even though he was four years older than me, he would come back from college or on leave and would visit everyone.  He'd always make special time for me.  He'd go to concerts he didn't care about because it meant spending time with me.  We both had a love affair with fast cars; we both had Mustangs.  His was a green 'Stang.  Her name was Hazel.  

Gary, Andrew, Seth

He would let me talk to him whenever I needed to, even if it meant waking him up from much needed sleep.  Almost everyone loved him.  He had very few enemies.  His magnetic smile and charming personality helped him make friends easily.

I thought the world of him.

Next time you're in the presence of someone you care about, don't rush it.  Don't hurry to the next thing on your schedule.  You very well could be making your last memory with them.

The only thing I regret in my relationship with him was that I didn't sit a little bit longer on the phone with him that night.

Because tomorrow he was gone.

Seth Jacob Myers

    November 1, 1981~February 20, 2006

A Best Friend

What is a best friend?  I don't think I've really understood what a best friend means until this last year.  I mean, I've had one, and she is great, spectacular and always has been.  I've always known that.

However, I realized that a best friend does not happen over night or in a matter of weeks or months.  A best friend proves herself over years.  She sees you at your worst--snotty, crying, blotchy eyes, sobbing; or selfish, whiny, complaining.  She loves you anyway.  She knows that someday the roles will be reversed.  She sees you at your best and celebrates when something exciting and major is happening.  She keeps you accountable even when you don't want her to.  She listens to you, lets you vent, then she tells you to buck up and stop wallowing in self-pity.

When the two of you go to concerts, sometimes you don't get backstage passes and laugh at each other for even expecting them. 

When you're going through a break-up, she brings home a stuffed animal for you and writes you note to make you feel better about yourself.

When you need someone to study with, she's right there to study with you because she's taking the same Cultural Development class.

When you're having a bad day because you're thinking about your friend who passed away, she's there to hug you and let you cry without saying anything.

When the two of you show up to work or class wearing almost the same outfit and people ask if you planned it, you swear that you didn't.

When the two of you go places together, you always have an adventure.  Even if it's in the dead of winter at Niagara Falls.

When you're in a job that you just can't stand, she keeps you in the loop about a position at her workplace because she just can't wait to work at the same place.

 

When you've moved across the country because you know it's exactly where God wants you, she calls you to tell you that she really wishes you were still there.  She checks up on you each week.

When she's upset, you're the first person she wants to talk to.

Sometimes you think alike, sometimes you don't.  She keeps you accountable and you do the same for her.

Hannah, you are my best friend.  I never understood what having a kindred spirit was until I spent time with you.  I know our friendship will always remain strong, no matter where God takes us.  Love you, my dear!