AUTHOR: Sara TITLE: Remembering the Lizard King DATE: 2/27/2005 07:58:00 PM ----- BODY:

I have been visiting this site, trying to find out some information on my 10 year reunion and get updates on people I went to school with. I talked in a previous post about Mike, not my current-husband-Mike, but a different Mike I dated in high school who died unexpectedly at 18 years old. We began dating when I was a sophomore in high school, but my freshman year, I dated a guy named Aric. Aric was the "older guy", the senior, getting ready to graduate and join the Marines so he could pay for college, the guy that stood out like a sore thumb because of his multi-colored hair, unlaced Doc Martins, and an overall if-you-don't-like-it-fuck-off attitude. I was overflowing with teen angst, so the two of us fit perfectly. Despite going our separate ways when he graduated, we always kept in touch. He got out of the Marines a few years ago. (I used to tell him that if he wore his "Question Authority!" t-shirt to boot camp, they would eat him up. Apparently he didn't listen.) He had met a nice girl and had two children with her. He bought a gorgeous piece of property right outside of Roswell, New Mexico and worked as a small town newspaper editor. Aric's e-mails stopped coming in November, a few months ago, and I wasn't sure why. There wasn't even the random joke or e-mail with his the attached pictures of his children he sent every so often. I continued sending my e-mails to him until a few weeks ago, I got the message returned due to his "mailbox being full." Last night, I read on the site that Aric died on November 6, 2004. I found his wife's number today and called her, talking for a long time. Aric was cutting down an elm tree at their home and the tree fell the wrong direction, killing him instantly. He pushed his wife out of the way before it fell. His children were inside watching Saturday morning cartoons and eating an early lunch. I worked out in the yard today and thought about Aric, the intelligent, gifted, devoted man who loved his family. The man who, not so long ago, was just a young boy who I glorified, who listened to "The Doors", knew everything about Jim Morrison and even called himself "The Lizard King" in comparison. Most of all, I thought about how precious life is and how I am so quick to forget that. This week . . . and for as long as I can continue reminding myself of Aric, I am going to stop and smell the flowers a little more. Like I recently said, a lot of this BS that stresses me out (and stresses many of you out) is so far out of my (our) hands. I am going to really, really try this month to just live in the moment. And enjoy the moment I am living.

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