A guest post from friend, Jamie Barati....
525,600. That is the number of minutes in
a year (o.k., I admit, I'm a fan of the Broadway show RENT, where that
comes from). But think about that - 525,600 minutes. That is
a lot of time in what is one turn of the calendar.
Whether you think about it as a year ago, or 12-months
ago, or 365-days ago, or 525,600 minutes ago.....we gauge a lot of things by
that turn of the calendar. For some things, a year seems so long
ago. For other things, we remember what happened a year ago as if it
happened yesterday.
March 14 sure did get here fast, and this is a day
that will stay with me and ring in my head for the rest of my life. That
is the day - that day that is now one year in the past - that I lost my friend
Jason Beaird. I can remember where I was - what I was doing -
who called me with the devastating news - the pain in my heart that I felt -
the tears and emotion that came pouring out of me.
While I still get a bit emotional thinking about that
day even now.....time has allowed a bit of healing to occur. I can still
hear Jason whenever I hear the phrase, "Come on man!" I am
sorry that I could not give Jason grief about the FSU National Championship
Football Season, as that would have been fun. I still get a huge
smile on my face when I look at photos with Jason and our Delaney Park Little
League teams that we coached TOGETHER......we had a pretty good little team
that Spring of 2012 was so much fun to coach with Jason.
Healing is important. We won't ever forget
Jason, but I believe that Jason would have wanted us to continue living our
lives and live them to the fullest. I believe that he would want us to
still celebrate all those little achievements and big achievements....and to learn
from those areas where maybe we didn't do so well. But in any
event...keep moving forward. We won’t forget about Jason or his love of
life and his fighting spirit. Those are things that will allow us to keep
moving forward.
