memories come flooding

hootie and the blowfish have a special sentimental meaning for me. everytime i hear a hootie song, a memory flashes that is both painful and joyful. i think that's why they are one of my favorite bands. that may sound weird, but hear me out:

i knew a kid once named spencer. spence to those close to him. i'm pretty sure i was introduced to him through his cousin--and one of my best friends--sartori. spence wasn't a normal kid. he had learning disabilities and the like. but he was strong and excellent at sports, so he had his niche. he was also one of the nicest people could have ever met in all your lifetimes.

some of us used to hang out at the sartori cabin on long lake north of nashwauk. we would go out in the paddle boat or swim near the floating dock or sauna or shoot off illegal fireworks. in the yesterdays before alcohol and drugs, that was our ultimate. the best times you could have.

hootie's got a song "the old man and me." me and spencer liked that song. my fondest memory of spence is us sitting at the sartori cabin with spence singing made up lyrics to song that involve him, me and landing some babes. that was spence. that was the way we all liked him.

he went in for some routine dental surgery, and i never saw him again. an allergic reaction to the anestethic sent him into a coma that he never recovered from. i don't think he had his driver's license yet, even.

this was the first time a person my age that i actually knew had shed his mortal coil and met whatever God pleased him. it was rough to understand why such a thing would happen. but that's life. no explanation, just the consequences. his passing made me face some unplesant thoughts about God, the afterlife, the worthiness of life. all in all, i understood a lot more about life than i did before. he taught me lessons that i didn't fully understand until he was gone. even 4 years later, i'm still learning from him. and for that, spencer is one of the greatest people i'll ever know..

i still miss spencer o'brien.

Well an old man said to me
In a voice filled with pain
Where you going young man
Said I'm going to fight a war
Gonna fight for my country
In some foreign land
He said "The sun will never hurt you
Never harmed anyone
But you must realize"
If you try to stare her down
She will win in the end
She will burn your eyes
She will burn them

Seen a million places
Seen a million faces die
And I wonder who will walk with me
When I get to Heaven

He said "Boy I was young once
Yeah I was tough
Sailing on Uncle Sam's boat
Hey I could kill the enemy
I could die on foreign streets
But I could not vote
But now you walk by me
You won't talk to me
Say this is my fate
But every time you walk the streets boy
Most of them you meet
You see it's you they hate
It's you...

Seen a million faces
Seen a million places die
And I wonder who will walk with me
When I get to Heaven
I hope I get there

Seen a million places
Seen a million faces die
And I wonder who will walk with me
When I get there

See this woman sitting next to me
She's been there for a long, long time
And when I fell, she picked me up
When I cried, she wiped my tears
I thank God she's mine
And when I leave this world
She won't have anything
But her love for me
'Cause the man took everything else
Made me hate myself
So just let her be boy
Won't you let her be