Another Damn Eulogy
Posted on | November 17, 2007 at 8:55 am | 6 Comments
Had a nice day at the Denver Film Festival yesterday, hanging out with friends and taking in a few movies. I’ll probably be going over those films in this space over the next few days. But unfortunately, this is going to be another of those tear-stained tragedy posts that I’m getting tired of writing, but I can’t just not do it. So, if you want to avoid the pain, skip to the “Jogged Today” section.
The big news in Colorado yesterday was that two Colorado men were killed in a ballooning accident in Iowa. One of those men, 37-year old Brad Brookhart, was a friend and co-worker of mine. He was in our group of lunchtime Pad Thai semi-regulars. I haven’t seen him much since the account I’m on moved to the new office building in April; he wasn’t on my project when we moved, though he used to be on it a couple of years ago. But I did keep in contact with him via company e-mail about various things. He saw my blog post about my panendoscopy test last month and we had a discussion about how the same thing happened to him, and what the results of his experience were compared to mine.
Brad was always a very cheerful guy who was passionate about everything in his life: his wife Donna & 3-year old daughter Rebecca, his Mini Cooper, his ballooning activities. He was one of those guys you always liked being around because he always seemed to be in a good mood, even when he was complaining about work or something. His Mini Cooper had a personalized license plate that read “WEBMTRN”, which stood for We Be Motorin’!. I kept jokingly referring to it as Web Matron in front of him, but it never pissed him off. When we were working on the same project together, I could see he was very diligent and picked up things fast. Whenever I have to go in and modify some code he’s written, I’m always impressed at the good job he did on it. He was a fun, dependable guy. I’ll miss him a lot.
Brad really loved ballooning and was always talking about his adventures. His ballooning mentor Ginger, quoted in the RMN article above, was the best friend of my dad’s second wife (who passed away many years ago) and she still keeps in touch with my dad. My dad rode in a balloon with her once. That was one of those “small world” things that shows you just how everyone and everything is connected. I’m tempted to say something like “At least Brad died doing something he loved”, but the manner in which he died sounds too terrifying and horrifying.
I contemplated ending this with some sort of “reaching for the heavens” metaphor but I just can’t do it.
I just want the tragedies to stop.
Goodbye, Brad, I’ll miss you.
Jogged Today: No, slept in. Plus, I did a lot of walking yesterday and expect to do the same today.
Today’s Weight: 164.4 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Green & Hot Bison Burger and french fries from Ted’s Montana Grill (sorry, clickthrough vegetarians).
Pet Peeve of the Day: Getting in late to a film festival screening and having to seat near the front. My neck still hurts this morning.
Latre.
Comments
6 Responses to “Another Damn Eulogy”
November 17th, 2007 @ 9:19 am
And here’s another condolence. Sorry, Flasshe. Friends aren’t supposed to die like that. Or die, period. Hang in there.
November 17th, 2007 @ 11:18 am
I’m just in shock, but you summed up everything so well, I can just say “amen” to that.
November 17th, 2007 @ 8:33 pm
Jesus. Too much bad luck for one person. I’m really sorry, R.
November 18th, 2007 @ 9:07 am
Very sorry to hear about your friend. It sounds like he loved life and lived it to the fullest.
November 18th, 2007 @ 8:34 pm
I’m so very sorry, Flasshe.
November 18th, 2007 @ 10:59 pm
Thanks, guys. All of you, please stay healthy and don’t do anything dangerous!