Too Soon For Goodbye
On my way home from training at McCoy one Sunday morning, I saw that I had a missed call from my friend Dan Meier. When I attempted to call him back, there was no answer, so I left a voicemail asking him to call me back when he gets my message. During the ride back home, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off and I started to worry, so I tried calling Dan again. There was still no answer. When I got home, anxiety had started to kick in, and then, all of a sudden, I had receive a message from a number I didn't recognize, with a message that read "Call me ASAP, Dan's sister (we'll call her) Jen." My heart began to race, I called her right away and as she fought through the tears, she told me that my friend, her brother, Dan Meier had passed away.
As I stood there, the phone still to my ear, the world seemed to have been frozen in place. The first thing to race through my mind was, "If I had woke up to my phone ringing and answered, maybe I could have prevented this." There were so many thoughts and emotions rushing through my head and then, in a sorrowful voice, I hear, "Daniel, are you still there?" Jen explained to me that Dan had passed away the night before from suicide. Dan had always struggled with depression but never let on how hard he fought. Only those of us that were as close to him as Jen and I knew how much he struggled.
Jen explained that there is going to be a memorial service for Dan and gave me all the information needed to invite anyone who knew Dan. Dan and I were both in a Fraternity together, that is how we met, and the Fraternity is where we lived together for years and really became close friends. That is where I knew I needed to start first. One after another, seeing the pain and sadness burst out of everyone showed how much Dan truly meant to all of us. As soon as everyone was informed, we packed up our cars and headed to the memorial.
It was not until I was standing in the church, did I realize how many lives Dan had touched. There was not an empty seat in the building nor a dry eye. The service was beautiful, with cheerful gestures from Dan's rugby teammates, gleeful jokes told by his Fraternity brothers, and heartwarming stories from his family, being able to see how one person can touch so many lives, was breathtaking. Even though it was far too soon to say goodbye to my friend, I know that his memory will live on in everyone who knew him.
You are missed every day Dan, thank you for everything.
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