my small town family

"...when you see this please pray...something terrible has happened...he and his son are gone..."

I woke up at 3:02 a.m. this morning because I have a very naughty dog and I'm a lousy, undisciplined pet owner.  That part isn't really relevant.  I just happened to notice my phone, lit up with a missed text I had received just after midnight.

"...he and his son are gone..."

***

I grew up in a really small town.  One school.  When I was there, kindergarten through sixth grade was in one building.  When you moved up to seventh grade, you moved up to the high school.  Yep.  Sharing the hallway and lockers and lunch room with the cool and completely terrifying seniors.  My graduating class was a big one - and I think there were only 44 of us (give or take...its been a few years).  Suffice it to say, everyone knows everyone...the kids older than you and the kids younger than you...the loud ones, the quiet ones, the jocks and the nerds and the alternative kids.  In a small school, the labels don't seem to matter as much and you have to wear more than one because there just aren't enough people to fill up all the stereotypes otherwise.  You could be a band geek AND a cheerleader.  Do FFA and drama.  Play football and sing in the choir.  I'm sure its slightly more idyllic in my faded memory than it probably was in reality, but I'm pretty sure that even with its challenges, growing up in a small town is the best kind of growing up there is. 

The greatest thing about growing up in a small town is the community.  There are people, families, that I have known all my life.  People I went to school with all the way through - people I literally grew up with - from kindergarten to graduation.  Rode the bus together.  Little league.  Field trips.  High school sports and clubs and FFA.  Pool parties and rodeos and dates and dances and homecoming and prom.  Celebrating graduation each year whether it was your graduation or not.  And the beautiful thing about this kind of community is that it doesn't end when high school does.  Later, its visiting friends at college, hearing about degrees and jobs, going to weddings, bumping in to parents and getting updates, meeting spouses then kids.  Its wonderfully surreal...watching little boys and girls you chased on the playground and passed notes with and cheered in the bleachers with...now succeeding in careers and having families and building lives for themselves.  It doesn't seem possible but one day, you look around and realize somehow we all grew up to become actual, real-life grown adults (whether we feel like it or not).

Some of us stayed in the community because we realized early the value of a small town life.  Some of us left and came back as fast as we could.  Some of us have moved away but intentionally stay close enough, or visit often enough, to keep connected.

If you're not blessed to come from a small town, I'm really sorry.  There really is nothing like it.  Knowing the same people and their families, sometimes for several generations, creates a community so close-knit its more like one huge extended family.  You share a history...memories and stories and secrets...the same seasons of life...the same passions like high school sports, 4-H and FFA, the big rodeo over 4th of July weekend...the same rivalries with the next small town over...  You tell the same stories about the crazy bus driver or the friendly town cop or the terrifying teacher or that girl with the huge thumb...  You know the same places that make no sense to anyone else...IT and FM and "that" particular mile marker...  You have shared experiences, more rare than you ever knew until you went out into the world and realized not everyone grew up taking 4 hour bus rides to play a basketball game or to cheer for the football team, not everyone has known the joy of searching for an outhouse to go on top of the homecoming bonfire or the pride of wearing an enormous mum all day, that not everyone took classes like meat-cutting and welding or experienced a police escort out of town for big game, that there are people who never spent their lunch hours at a gas station or doing donuts at the fair grounds, never went to parties in the middle of a field or a forest or at the end of a dirt road, never skipped school to lug paint up the hill to refresh your school's letter on the side of mountain...

I could go on and on...

But perhaps the biggest blessing of small town living is the love you have for your community and its members and then, later, your love for all the people they love and bring into the community.  Whether its your classmate's wife, your friend's cousin, your sister's best friend's daughter or your best friend's dad...you love them because, in whatever way, they are connected someone you love.  You're all part of the same little community.  Part of the same family.

So when any one person is lost, we all break a little, we all mourn together and, ultimately...hopefully...we pause and remember how lucky we are to have each other.

***

Last night a man I've known since I was 5 was killed tragically, along with his son.  I remember a laughing little boy with the bluest eyes you can imagine...and then a teenager with his football jersey on, teasing and joking in the hallway...and years later a man telling me about living back in our little community and what his little brother was up to and mourning his mother's tragic and untimely death...  I remember the last time I saw him...old friends laughing about being the "grownups" now and his being on the radio and my ridiculous love life.  He was the kind of guy everyone is proud to know - a good son, a good brother, a good friend.  He was a leader, involved in his community and so incredibly supportive of our alma mater.  He did more with his 39 years than most people do with twice that much time...but...he still leaves behind a thriving business and countless friends and family, including a dad and a brother and a beautiful wife and kids.  As heartbroken as I feel, I cannot even begin to imagine their grief.  There are no words. 

***

And its not just him.  A little over a week ago, the shy and quiet boy who graduated at the top of our class passed away suddenly.  He had a successful business and friends and family and a lovely new bride.  And while his family dealt with the devastation with a grace and peace that was completely miraculous, there still are no words.  But its not just him either.  There was the adorable younger cousin of my best friend.  Amazing dads of  of my dearest friends.  Their lovely mother.  Our high school football coach.  His wife.  That kind boy with the motorcycle.  The quiet guy with the sad eyes.  Her little sister.  Their little brother.  Daughters.  Sons.  Friends.

Each members of our little community...loved...and lost...and mourned...and remembered.

***

I'm not sure there is a point to this rambling, really.  I just tend to find myself typing when my heart hurts and I don't understand.  Sometimes I don't know what to do with the pain so I just ask God to wrap me up in His love and peace and comfort and hold me tight.

But when things happen that are awful and painful and impossible to comprehend or explain...when there are no words...it comforts me to remember the other things...those things that are wonderful and miraculous and beautiful and holy in this world.

And one of those things, for me, is the fact that I get to be a part of my small town family.

So for those of you hurting over the losses today (whether they are a little older or brand new), please know that the rest of us hurt with you.  We lift you up.  We are here if you need us.  Most of all, WE LOVE YOU.

And for those members of our little community that are gone too soon, please know that we remember you and we always will.  We will miss you until we see you again.  We will love the people you left behind to the best of our ability.  Most of all, WE LOVE YOU.

Rest in peace, my friends.

#CapitanTigers