Until we meet again, Jack

On Sunday, our kids lost a very close friend. He was on the river, kayaking with his brother, and somehow drowned. Knowing Jack, he was wearing his lifejacket, because he was a kid who followed the rules. Obviously we don't know what happened, but it doesn't matter - the end result is the same. We lost Jack.

We first heard the news on Monday morning. I got a call from one of my girl scouts on the answering machine, so I called her back. I was totally blindsided. It was very hard to tell Trevor and Diana, who'd known Jack for nine years. Living in a smaller town, you tend to keep the same friends a very long time. I sent Lee and email & asked him to call home. He wound up coming home himself, because we were so upset, and Connor was feeling the effects.

Lee called our local paper to get the actual story, vs. rumors and they wound up taking a few comments from him. They also asked if we had any photos, so I emailed one from Trevor's birthday party in June. Jack was one of the three friends there. The paper decided to use that photo as well. The article is below:

newspaper article

I still can't talk or write about Jack without crying. Anywhere I go, work, school, whatever, I see people that had connections to him and his family. No one can discuss him without tears. His dad is a pediatrician and his mom is on the school board. The memorial service will be very big, I think. Jack was just a great, friendly easy-going kid. I appreciated his friendship with Trevor, and his protectiveness of Diana. He was always ready to help out any way he could and would do anything you needed him to do.

I can't imagine what his family is going through. I'm still grieving more than being able to comfort at this time. Diana & Jack had just spent a chunk of their summer doing Driver's Ed. His mom & I traded off bringing them to & from the Jr. High for 6 weeks. They rode the same bus and sat together during the regular school year.

Diana drew a picture to show her feelings on her webcomic (link on right).

Today was better than yesterday, and yesterday was better than Monday. Hopefully after the memorial, everyone will be able manage better emotionally. But we will never forget him.

We miss you, Jack.