Bittersweet
Hey,
There seems to be a recurring theme. Unfortunately it’s not the most pleasant thing to deal with… Death.
Last week at the midnight showing for the premiere of the highly anticipated Batman movie, about 20 minutes into the film a gunman opened fire in a theater in Aurora Colorado.
12 people died. Countless others left injured and dealing with this mess they now call life. It is sad. There is even a story of a young woman named Jessica, who in June escaped a shooting in a Toronto mall. Narrowly escaping death she lived to see another day… but who would’ve thought that a little over one month later her time would be up. I hope and pray that she and the 11 others who were killed were saved before taking their last breath. I also pray that everyone else now having stared death in the face searches for the Truth and finds it.
Yes, I even pray that the person that caused these people to meet their maker finds the Truth.
Only God.
JJ’s grandmother has cancer. That is one of the reasons I have asked for prayers in his direction. Yesterday the doctors told JJ and his family that she has stage IV cancer. His mom (who recently had a heart attack) and JJ are the two main people there for his grandmother during this time.
Maryia’s best friend, Jackie… well her grandfather also has stage IV cancer. Hence the request of prayers in that direction as well.
I just wish we could do more for the people we care about everyone.
As if that weren’t enough…
I received a few texts last night and that was followed by a missed phone call. For me, this is a little uncommon. People generally get a hold of me when they need to and usually it doesn’t happen in bunches.
I called Jeff back and he let me know of some tragic news. One of my friends from LifeLock has died. Aaron Saunders.
Those who knew Aaron would call him quiet and maybe even a bit of a loner. From my time that I was able to spend with him I enjoyed our friendship. We first met in 2008 and have been friends ever since. He started at LifeLock as a Temp but I was the person who was assigned to train and show him the ropes after he had been hired on full-time. He wasn’t very old, only in his 30s.
Over time I became his main go-to person both when I was on his team and even later after I had moved elsewhere within the company. We forged a friendship and learned a lot about each other.
I remember how he would tell me about his great travels while he was in the service. Times he spent in Russia at old abandoned camps, walking miles and miles from post-to post that he was stationed at. He even got to a point where he taught me some of his games that he liked to play. One of them that I can remember the name to is called GO. It’s actually a pretty fun game, and I probably would have bought pieces to the game had it not cost so much.
Before I left LifeLock and even on my final email to my manager I praised Aaron for his hard-working attitude and his ability to get things done. I strongly recommended them to consider hiring Aaron in Partner Operations. Unfortunately my suggestion was never seriously considered. Well before that I had spoken to Aaron and coached him on job specifics, things to improve upon and other traits in hopes of making him the best candidate for a position in the department. They however selected Amanda- still a good pick and a friend of mine.. but I felt like perhaps a missed opportunity.
I had spoken to him before of my beliefs but in a nut shell he didn’t want much to do with God (is the impression that I got from him). I had once in my pursuit of trying to get him to go to church told him that I would go to a strip club (a place that he and a mutual friend would occasionally talk of going to) in exchange for him trying out my church for just a few weeks (or even just once). He initially accepted my offer, but later declined.
But hey me and Aaron, we were alike despite our differences. From the simplest things of driving to work in the morning.. (our schedules were identical & every day I would see his green Honda driving to work) and honking the horn to say good morning, to even when we would go home at the end of the day (we lived near each other and would take the same route everyday)
He ended up quitting LifeLock a couple months ago after getting fed up with some of the changes that were going on in my old department. After having a tough time finding some work, he finally found an office job that would provide the income he needed.
After not showing up for work for a few days the cops were called and they went to his apartment. They found Aaron sitting on a chair. He had been dead for a few days (and had gone unnoticed). Oh my friend, where has the time gone?
I always say that death is bittersweet if you know where the person is going (or at least believe that you know). His death given what I know, is bitter with no sign of sweet. I hope and pray that I’m wrong.
RIP Aaron Saunders.
just Pray