it's knowing that you have theirs."
On Friday I worked hard all day at the labs. I didn't have time to check my email messages at all that day. I worked pretty much straight through from 9 to 5 checking up on things and showing the grad students how to perform certain procedures. When I finally got home I was tired and really hungry.
I got home and immediately grabbed a bite to eat (yogurt and something that escapes me right now). I sat down in front of my computer with my yogurt to check my mail for the first time that day. I was greeted with the usual spam, some notes from my mom, some other things.
Then I came to an email from Colyn. It was titled simply "Hank...". This struck me as odd so I opened the email.
Hank, a 22 year old senior at UIC and one of the captains of the UIC Men's Ultimate team, was killed in a car accident late Thursday night.
I sat in shock for a while and then began to sort out some thoughts. My thanks to Cass who gave me a hug and told me to sit down with some water and just relax for a minute.
Hank was a fun teammate and a good friend. I honestly think he may have frustrated me more than anyone else on the team just because I knew how much potential he had if he would put forth more effort. That's not to say he didn't try hard, it's just to say that I always felt that with motivation he could be more. We laughed, drank, and played together and I will miss him dearly. My deepest sympathy to his family and loved ones.
Again, no long speeches on the meaning of life or anything like that. Time for my favorite Hank story.
Sectionals two years ago. The final game for UIC was against U of C, a friendly team that we have developed a good rapport with. Both teams have been eliminated from contention at this point. To start the game off it is customary to flip discs (similar to a coin toss) but to end the day right the decision was made to have a shotgun line. Our two best drinkers vs. their two best, first man starts to shotgun his beer and the second player cannot start until he has finished. We send Sean and Hank to the line. Sean and Hank proceed to finish their beers before their first player had even finished his. Hank, as anchor, finishes his beer to seal the victory, crushes his can with his fist, spikes it on the ground, turns to the U of C team and says "Welcome to public school, Bitches!"
On Saturday I played soccer for three hours. During the game I got a call from my brother. The father of a good friend Chuck (one of four groomsmen at my brother's wedding) passed away over Friday night. I did not know the man, but my heart goes out to his family.
I can only look to the quote that is the title of this post (and Hank's favorite movie quote) and decide exactly how much that means to me.
On Friday I worked hard all day at the labs. I didn't have time to check my email messages at all that day. I worked pretty much straight through from 9 to 5 checking up on things and showing the grad students how to perform certain procedures. When I finally got home I was tired and really hungry.
I got home and immediately grabbed a bite to eat (yogurt and something that escapes me right now). I sat down in front of my computer with my yogurt to check my mail for the first time that day. I was greeted with the usual spam, some notes from my mom, some other things.
Then I came to an email from Colyn. It was titled simply "Hank...". This struck me as odd so I opened the email.
Hank, a 22 year old senior at UIC and one of the captains of the UIC Men's Ultimate team, was killed in a car accident late Thursday night.
I sat in shock for a while and then began to sort out some thoughts. My thanks to Cass who gave me a hug and told me to sit down with some water and just relax for a minute.
Hank was a fun teammate and a good friend. I honestly think he may have frustrated me more than anyone else on the team just because I knew how much potential he had if he would put forth more effort. That's not to say he didn't try hard, it's just to say that I always felt that with motivation he could be more. We laughed, drank, and played together and I will miss him dearly. My deepest sympathy to his family and loved ones.
Again, no long speeches on the meaning of life or anything like that. Time for my favorite Hank story.
Sectionals two years ago. The final game for UIC was against U of C, a friendly team that we have developed a good rapport with. Both teams have been eliminated from contention at this point. To start the game off it is customary to flip discs (similar to a coin toss) but to end the day right the decision was made to have a shotgun line. Our two best drinkers vs. their two best, first man starts to shotgun his beer and the second player cannot start until he has finished. We send Sean and Hank to the line. Sean and Hank proceed to finish their beers before their first player had even finished his. Hank, as anchor, finishes his beer to seal the victory, crushes his can with his fist, spikes it on the ground, turns to the U of C team and says "Welcome to public school, Bitches!"
On Saturday I played soccer for three hours. During the game I got a call from my brother. The father of a good friend Chuck (one of four groomsmen at my brother's wedding) passed away over Friday night. I did not know the man, but my heart goes out to his family.
I can only look to the quote that is the title of this post (and Hank's favorite movie quote) and decide exactly how much that means to me.
2 comments:
I didn't know Hank so well, but he was always a very chilled and mature figure during practice, I thought. I remember when I engaged Sean in some aerial combat dring a game of indoor frisbee (the same evening I gave you a bruised ear) and Sean started moaning and complaining. This is when I think Hank and I exchanged our first words, and it was him telling me not worry about Sean; that he was always like this. I appreciated that.
I liked marking him too because he was, as you said, a little lazy, leaving his runs to the very last moment.
It was great shock to learn of his death and my thoughts are with his family.
Wow. I'm really sorry. Hank seems like a character, and you did well for him on this space.
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