Flatbed Sammy

My aunt's and uncle's house went into foreclosure, so they and their three kids are moving in with my mom until things get better. In order to help my mom clear up some space in her house, I had to go through two boxes of junk I kept from middle school and high school. After reading some of the notes my friends and I wrote to each other back in 8th grade, all I could do was bow my head and weep in shame. I was just appalled at the sheer idiocy I possessed ten years ago. Does anyone need some firewood? I'll gladly provide the contents of both boxes so the evidence of my teen stupidity could be destroyed forever.

In other news, I was on Facebook today and under the "Birthdays" tab, I learned that today was David Maxwell's birthday.

David Maxwell was a guy I knew from my sophomore year of college. He was this badassed-looking kid in my Literature in Film class -- with a mohawk, tattoos, a spiked belt, and piercings. One day, we just started talking and after class, we spent a few hours walking around the Loop, just talking, talking, and talking. Despite his tough guy "fuck the world" appearance, he was really a sweet, gentle soul with big dreams. He told me that he wanted to get into the music industry, as music was a big part of his life. He spoke fondly about his mom, his older sister, and his cousins. I told him about my views on life, art, the afterlife, religion, and society -- and we both found out that we shared many of the same views, and most importantly, sense of humor (which very few people get). When we parted ways, I thought to myself, "What a great guy. He'll get very far in life."

We remained pretty good friends after that night, but soon afterwards, I started dating Nate. Because of that, David and I just drifted apart. That did not keep me from remembering him and his unique, dynamic personality from time to time.

Today, I clicked on his profile to tell him hi and to wish him a happy birthday, and much to my dismay, I found out that he's been dead for more than a year. Back in September 2007, he drowned in Lake Michigan.

I spent the rest of the day feeling bummed out, especially because David could have gone on and accomplished anything he wanted to. He was that memorable.

Like my (deceased) stepmom would say, "They always get the best ones early."