Touching

Sometimes, life seems like it will never end. It seems like the days will just continue to roll, one into the next. When I feel like that, I hope I think about this part of the "A Year and A Half in the Life of Metallica" release. The scene is set by Jason Newsted talking about a child who was diagnosed with cancer and how, through the "Make a Wish" campaign, he came to the studio where Metallica were recording the Black album and jammed "The Four Horsemen."

I was thinking about this child in light of the wake / funeral Megan went to last night. Austin "Flash" Schroeder passed away on Tuesday. Karen & I dropped Megan off at Saint Patrick's church in Iowa City so she could sing with the high school singers from Saint Thomas More and then returned to pick her up. We watched what seemed like an endless stream of people file out of the church at the end of the funeral mass and line themselves along the road that the hearse was going to travel. Then almost like magic candles were lit as the hearse drove his body away. We watched balloons be released into the air as well. Megan was very shook up by all of this and I felt like, maybe, shopping at Dollar Tree & getting bags of mulch at Menard's were suddenly a zero priority. I didn't know Austin, but I felt guilty that I didn't attend the funeral mass, especially when Megan got in the truck and couldn't stop sobbing. Maybe I should have been there with her instead of shopping. But I can't seem to beat myself up anymore about regret. Regrets, after all, are opportunities to learn. I can't change the past. No matter how hard I try. No matter what I do. I can only move forward. Austin's catch phrase was "Win the Day." From what I've been able to piece together, he was a very much loved son. RIP.