I Could Do Without Some Bits of Life

I blogged already about the suicide at UT a couple of weeks ago.

Two days later, I logged onto Facebook and saw a status from my cousin Missy that a police officer in our hometown had unfairly had his life taken. I followed the link to find out what happened; he was on a training ride with other members of the bike patrol when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver and instantly killed.
Quite a few members of my family are in local law enforcement in Greenfield; it seems that we all have to do either food service or law enforcement once or we aren't allowed to come to family reunions. So, I was sad for my cousins who had lost a friend, and sad on general grounds that an officer was killed. Slowly, more messages from my FB friends back home came up on my screen, and I finally heard the truly shocking (to me) news: The officer's wife was a high school classmate.

Obviously, all the way down here, I couldn't do anything. I can't even buy one of the stickers that Missy (who is one of the most thoughtful people on the planet, BTW; I don't know how I missed out on those genes) had printed up & sold to benefit the family. I couldn't lay flowers on his squad car or stand and watch the funeral procession go by as the rest of Greenfield did on the day of the funeral. I did what I could, which was send a message of sympathy to his widow on Facebook. And I logged on to the local news sources the day of the funeral to see the coverage. (The pipe & drum band was amazing, but I hate to hear them under these circumstances.)

I didn't even know the officer, so it would probably be reasonable to expect that my life wasn't affected by this at all. Except, I'm not reasonable. And this was a bit too much for me. Two young lives were ended in two very different ways within two days of each other. I signed off of FB because I couldn't be my normal, cheeky self that Thursday.

I know that people die. I acknowledge that this is part of life. I know not all people get to live to old age. I know that some people are left alone, tragically, much earlier than expected. I know the threat of being killed in the line due to criminals who recognise no limits is a daily risk that police officers take. And I further know that if I stop to be sad every time someone I know loses a loved one, I may never be happy again.

But that doesn't stop me from being cranky about it. A high school classmate, the same age as me, with two young children, is left to raise them alone because of one person's stupidity. She had to bury her husband on what would have been his birthday. Some days, life totally blows.

Please love your loved ones today. A lot. And let's hope I don't have cause for another tragedy-related blog for a while, okay?