This past week had been one of the longest weeks of my summer yet life-changing. I of course still went to volunteer and work which was a great time because I got to go outside and hang with people a lot more. But the only difference was that I didn't go to the bars. I had lots of thoughts in my mind because one person who was a friend of mine from College had passed away suddenly. It was really sad in some ways as I thought of it. His name was David Waight and he was only 21 years old.

I met Dave when I was just a First-Year at Messiah College. We were working together at Lottie Nelson Dining Hall when we had first met. At that time we had a manager who wasn't such a nice person. She had her favorites and worst off I was having a rough time that time. I was dealing with enormous amounts of stress and anxieties in my work and with family at home and of course socially. There was just a lot of changes in my life that time after leaving home and going to College. But it was there at that time when we started having a beef with each other. When the second semester started I was able to understand him a little bit more as he told me about some struggles he had with classes. After I heard about that I thought that "Of course yeah I also struggled with classes too." But really we were on the same boat as we had Learning Disabilities. God had created us in different ways possible and after realizing that I treated him better and later became friends with him on Facebook. Time went by and Sophomore Year came up and I learned that he was on my floor at Grantham 3. During the first semester we made visitations to the rooms back and forth as we were helping each other out alongside having interesting conversations. I got closer to him and we slowly built each other up for a good cause. There were times when I was stressed and he would calm me down alongside his roommates. But after that semester ended he moved on to Bitner and we slowly started to grow apart but remained friendly till the end of the school year. What really came around was he was a fan of climbing but more for risking his life.

A few days ago I learned the worst news that came to hit me was that he had passed at such a young age. It hurt me and the minute I learned the news I broke down. Memories all started coming back in but what was worse was how I never really got to say goodbye to him nor did I really keep him. What I really thought in depth was the fact that we were able to build each other up for the positives. There was definitely a lot of improvements made for both of us as the semester kept going. I hadn't been able to function so well as I felt I lost someone close to me. His obituary came up and I signed it as I was torn up and grief-strickened. It was just a life taken away too soon just like it was for my dad. I kept thinking to myself how could I have been so self-centered in some ways possible? How did all this happen so suddenly? This really caused me to stop and think about my life of what I am and who I have become. There are still ways to improve in life for me and for everyone out there. I knew that there were definitely people hurting out there but then its hard to reach out to every single person. There definitely was No Such Thing as a perfect life. As for Dave I talked about it with my family and talked about what he had done. How he lived his life and did some great deeds in life no matter what the cause was. I have to accept that Dave is up there in Heaven praising God and not feeling sorrow and pain in the world anymore. He surely was "Faithful till the end" and I think I would want to do that too though it has its tough points.

Rest in Peace Brother I know we will meet again one day. Here is one song "Whom Shall I Fear" by Chris Tomlin that I dedicated to you. "I know who goes before me I know who stands behind..." Never will I forget you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOkImV2cJDg

R.I.P David Waight (1992-2013) you will be missed brother!

Wow I haven't updated this blog in a bit of a while haha but I have been busy that I haven't even been able to update it. So far summer has been going well though I am still bittersweet and missing people from Messiah a lot. But I still have to take care of a lot of business. There are still field placement stuff I have to take care of such as one more check and also waiting on them to call back. Perhaps I should call back. Also rundown of the past Long Weekend was literally the Best Independence Day Weekend Ever! I went to 3 gatherings and parties and hung out with many friends I haven't seen in a long while. I guess it is what is becoming of all of us after High School ended.

To Kick off the Long Weekend after work on July 3 I hung out at home. Later on that night I left and went to my good friend Brian's house. It was dark when I got there so we had to wait for a while. Turns out the electricity company had turned off the lights for that house UNFORTUNATELY on the Wrong Day! But as well as it was we solved the problem as soon as possible. We called people to bring some kind of generator and electric cables. We were able to plug everything in and get lights. There was even a person who was able to DJ with the laptop and the party was in full force. We had a lot of fun despite how a few were drunk. It was good to see a lot of people and reunite with friends. There were surely drinking and also talks. Out of nowhere however came Chris Ottesen who was back from the Army. He had a warm welcome and we were all happy to see him again as He had been gone Forever! The party would last till the early morning hours of July 4th Independence Day!

July 4 I woke up quite late and cooked a meal with my mom. It was a successful one as we needed to get something Great to eat. However in the afternoon we had different plans as she went to hangout with her church friends and I was invited to another barbeque party. I drove on down to Montclair where I hung out with Jim Farley and his group of friends. It was a good time as I was able to drink some more and eat a lot of awesome food. I also went on a Slip and Slide for the first time and got myself wet! It was great as it had been really hot that day. Later on after dinner I left and went to buy some beer before heading to Clayton's house for his party where I got to reunite with more friends and saw some I saw the day before. It was a fun time getting to see everyone but I was actually about to go on and get exhausted. It was a tiring weekend but fun as I stayed there for only about 2 hours before going back home. This has been the best one yet and I won't ever forget about the Independence Day Weekend at all. As it was after 3 gatherings I crashed at home for the rest of the weekend before going back to work.