"I'm sure the view from Heaven beats the Hell out of mine here..."

I got a nosebleed in the shower yesterday. Seemingly forgettable occurence for most, but for me, everytime this happens, it's almost horrific.

Some background info: when I was growing up, for the first few years of elementary school before I transferred schools in 4th grade, my best friend was Sam Hudson. Sam and I spent most of our weekends hanging out and most of our school nights on the phone talking about all the things that were meaningful to two boys in the 3rd grade. After I moved schools, Sam and I grew apart. Sadly, he got mixed up in a lot of stuff that ended up leading to his demise. Sam was genuine. He never led you on to believe anything other than what was really going on. He was one Hell of a friend. Anytime I needed anything, and sometimes when I didn't, Sam and his beautiful family were there.
When we were in High School, Sam's dad, Mike, shot himself at the top of the stairs at their home. I was floored. Mike was Sam's hero. To my knowledge, until the day he died, Sam wore his dad's old dog tags. Sam used to show off Mike's purple heart with so much pride. He glowed when he talked about it. I cried when I saw it laying in Mike's coffin. The morning of that funeral, my nose bled in the shower.
About a year or two ago, I got even worse news: Sam tragically died in a car accident. He hit a tree. Alcohol was involved. Although we didn't keep in touch anymore, I knew Sam was crushed when Mike died. He was never the same. He fell deeper into oblivion. I'm not condoning anything Sam did, because it was wrong, but the poor kid never really had a fighting chance. His story is tragic. I couldn't make it to his funeral, partially because of work and partially because I didn't really think I could put myself through it. I'm getting choked up just typing about it. Sam's mother, Gay, is a saint. She's one of the most amazing people I've ever met. To this day, everytime I see her, she stops me, asks how I'm doing, listens intently to how I'm doing, and gives me a hug. She's an amazing woman and she's been through too much pain, but keeps on smiling.
The day after I found out about Sam, my nose bled in the shower.


Thanks for reading.