I remember where I was... holding my fathers hand, telling him it was going to be okay. An hour later I was buying a scratch ticket and a six pack of bud light at a grocery store in Grandview, MO., after winning $50 and downing three beers, I headed in to the city.
Two years later Im reading an article about two men, rushing across the country, pushing themselves to the limit. I was reading about how 20 hour days are not uncommon in these last few weeks, and how Nov.2 is more of a relief than anything else. I imagined both men heading home, forcing a midday meal down, and sleeping the daylight away. I thought about their dreams, where none of this was real, and they were just little boys dreaming of being men. And then they would wake in the middle of the night, with the lights off and curtains drawn, wishing they had never gone down this road.
After writing off one of my closest friends, and having a few more drinks, I went home and slept. When I woke, it was dark and the hallway light was on, I can remember wanting to cry but not knowing how. By the end of the day, I was sitting across a dining room table from an uncle I barely knew. He was on his 13th or 14th beer by then, and was simutaneously explaining the worth of a good man and rifle safety, while clutching the action on a S&W 7mm. I genuinely remember thinking "I wish it were yesterday".
