Sudden Impact

Last weekend I took the family to Busch Gardens. We had a fun time with the rides and animals. Jack Hannah was there for the weekend only and he presented a lot of very rare and unusual animals. Great show. When we arrived they had some people from the audience up on the stage to keep the crowd entertained until the show started. The audience member nearest to us was an ex co-worker. A guy I really don't care for... a really smarmy type of weasel. I thought "Oh of all the people to see here today... this guy... man what a small world."

A few hours later as we were leaving the park and coming home somewhere nearby in Tampa was another ex co-worker. She died somewhere on the back roads probably less than 20 miles from where I was driving. The car she was riding in hit a tree head on and she was ejected into it. I don't know the precise details, but I get the impression that she died instantly. And no she was not wearing her seatbelt.

I went to her funeral today with several other co-workers who knew her. She worked with us about 4 or 5 years ago. She was a lot younger then, but it sounds like she was still a lot like we remembered her. She was an exceptionally tall girl and pretty in her own way. Many people would tell her she should be a model because of her height, thin build and striking features. She probably could have been too.

I liked her and disliked her if a thing such is possible. She had a way of making everyone laugh or gasp in shock with just about everything she did. She could be pretty hot headed and she would speak her mind about EVERYTHING and she often did it just to get a rise out of people. I think though that a lot of what she did was just her way of being funny. A sharp wit (maybe too sharp at times). She did have a ton of energy and she loved to talk. I remember she dubbed me Control-Alt-Delete boy because I was in IT (information & technology) and whenever a persons computer needed looking after we almost invariably would start by bringing up the task manager (by of course pressing those 3 buttons). I think it got under my skin back then, but I actually laugh at it now. I also once changed her tire for her while she stood huffing over me and never uttered a thanks, but her father who showed up thanked me profusly while she sped off to her next adventure, late for something I'm sure. I remember think of Bill Murray in Ground Hogs Day as he caught the little kid falling out of the tree only to have the young boy run off without saying thanks. Most her behavior actually tended to bemuse me more than iritate. She was the kind of girl that would moon a passing motorist or complain loudly at a resteraunt. She liked to be the center of attention, but I think once she got there she thrived in it. I'm sure her family will miss that most of all about her.

Apparently in the years since we worked with her she had done some remarkable things. She had gotten married (though I don't think I would ever say she "settled down" ;) She was working with the corrections system to help counsel at risk youth. A noble thing and one I found quite surprising for her.

I have a lot of confused feelings at the moment. Finding out someone I knew who was so young died so suddenly has made a bit of an impact on me. I keep thinking of the finality of things and how fragile life is. I worry about things undone. Not for myself, but for my family. I feel like 10,000 years wouldn't be enough to make up for all the lost time between us. I'm always so busy with work or with things I'm working on... there just feels like so many things are left undone and left unsaid. I struggle to make a better life for my wife and children, but in the process I let so much of myself dissappear. Hopefully I can take away from this terrible thing that happened to this young girl a renewed sense of how important love and laughter is over everything else.

POP Goes The... Cyst???

I have this thing on my wrist. The doctors call it a ganglion cyst. It's like a hard round bump. Kind of like a have a bone out of place, but it's not really a bone. Apparently I got from years of cramping my hand around a mouse. It's my "tennis elbow" if you will.

pic shamelessly lifted from Wikipedia

After reading about Simple American's misadventures with a baker's cyst I resolved to not mess with mine. The doc had told me quite seriously that if it bothered me to bang it with a book or against a wall and it would break (unfortunately that high tech solution won't last long as the cyst will reform)

For some reason the cyst has gone drastically down. I don't think I bumped it, but maybe I did accidently. Right now it's just a small hard hump barely visible under the skin. Maybe it is clearing up on it's own... or maybe it will come back as the docs said it would.


Well if it does leave I won't miss mr. protrusion very much ;)
People with random bumps... weird. :P