A forced nostalgia…

There are some things I take for granted that often reveal themselves from something tragic happening. They are almost always things that were once important, sought after or prioritized to obtain only to lose their luster over time, to be replaced by other “things” or less important, motive based relationships.

The most important parts of life that I am talking about are things like family, friends, making memories, etc…

I am not talking about money, possessions, fancy jobs, etc…

[cue clip from the Bob Marley interview when he says “Possessions make ya rich? I don’t have that type of richness. My richness is life, forever.”]

It’s ok to want all of those things, but when tragedy happens…I promise you it won’t be the latter that you care about. You will not care about your fancy car, your important job, the number of digits in your bank account, how many stupid ass facebook likes you have. In fact, I would bet you anything that you will be willing to trade it all for 5 more minutes with a lost loved one.

Look, I’m guilty of it too. I am saying this from my experience. There’s no judgement if any of this applies to you.

I grew up in Maryland in the winters and Bethany Beach, DE in the summers. I made more memories with people in the 3 months of the summer than I did all of fall, winter and spring. I did attend school in Delaware as well for my first half of high school. There were good and bad parts of that, just like any time of my life. I treasured my friendships at the beach but didn’t truly grasp how important those friendships were until….well…yesterday.

This sounds ridiculous to me while I write it. And it certainly doesn’t merit making my eyes water up a bit. But here I am struggling to read the words I’m typing.

We just lost a very good person. A 45 year old mother and wife. A believer in God and a woman who made it her business to help others through prayer. A staple in the group of friends I made at the beach. The wife of another friend. Simply put, a complete and total tragedy happened.

This loss caused us all to reunite to not only celebrate her life, but to support our friends and family who were directly impacted by it. People drove for hours and hours. People jumped on planes. It was a tangible example of the soul that grows in that small town in Delaware.

While we were there for those reasons, we also shared laughs and love with each other. We ate together. We drank together. They had booze, I had water but we drank together nonetheless lol.

In almost all of these moments, friends I have had for a lifetime all approached me with the same message…

They all expressed how proud they were of me. How happy they were for me. How inspired they were by me. I gotta tell you, it was kind of overwhelming. But it was genuine and it was natural. It was love.

It’s a love that I don’t share with many friends. It’s a special kind of love that I think is exclusive to people that grew up together in Sussex County. We all seemed to have picked up right where we left off, even if that “off” was 20 years ago. I don’t ever recall getting better hugs in my life than I did from my friend Nino. I don’t remember the last time someone was as interested in hearing about my life more than my friend Brad. I just felt right at home. Every single friend I encountered brought something different to the table. And we all tried to heal together.

I admittedly have taken these friendships for granted my whole life. I have let the memories we made together fade and dull out. It’s sad really.

But I was reminded through tragedy how important we all are to each other. It was very comforting and I hope that I was able to offer some comfort to the ones that were hurting.

To my friends from the beach, my lifelong friends, the people that grew up in different houses that I consider family…I love you and I am here for you. If you ever need me in any capacity, I am here.