August 30, 2007
-
The Daily News
1 It’s just too early.2 It’s just too soon.
3 I was supposed to be writing things that are funny, goofy, and sometimes just fun to read.
4
The DN rolls out to a lot of people who have come through my life for
years and years. It’s a lark, and a lot of fun to write, and I’m
guessing a lot of fun to glance at, or read, or even shake one’s head
to.5 It’s original intention was to keep all the people involved in our ’96 version of Guys and Dolls informed of things about the Show and to
amuse people in the walls and halls of the YB Performing Arts Dept.6
As life moved on, it stretched to include my own Class of ’05, and by
association, the entire ASB at YB, and suddenly it had a larger
audience. I had decided to keep up the DN online, and now that I’ve
taken a huge leap to another place, I’m quite pleased that it’s now
just a charming little goof I throw out each morning, to old friends,
young friends, family, and most important, anyone who went through the
wonder of being in the YB family. But make no mistake: it is
exclusively a YB original, and it includes lots of people I know and
love.7 It’s also a newspaper, in some sort of strange way. Eleven years of anything
will have moments of history and daily events that will eventually
become a benchmark of things that a large amount of us have in common.
Many alumni enjoy reading this boushit every day, and they sometimes
even get restless when it disappears during school vacations.8 But in many ways, it’s a nice, pleasant
constant, a reminder of who we all are and where we all came from. I
often try to remind people of the inconstancy of life, and of loving
and appreciating everyone around, and of not taking a thing for
granted. It’s really nice to remind myself of that as well.
9
The other night, as I was putting the DN to bed, I received an e-mail
from John Le, one of our amazing family of friends. The subject said
quite simply, “I’m sorry…” When I opened the e-mail, it was an
understated report that his former girlfriend, Dianna Dang, had passed
away at age 21. Too young, too early.10 In a minute my mind
flooded with memories of an entire peaceful era in my life, when we
were at war with John’s class, and with an entire universe that
revolved around a loveland I affectionately labeled Xangaland. It was
that brief time when everybody walking around had a Xanga, the same way
everyone has Myspace or Facebook now, only Xanga seemed more special in
many ways.11
This isn’t really about all that, but it does give us an historical
framework, and I remember that Dianna had entered into my world as
another amazing student among a world of amazing students, a dynamic
girl who would come up and make people smile, and who was always
optimistic.12 As the Class of ’04 graduated, we all went
different ways; I stayed in touch with a few people, but my class was
’05 and I sailed through the next year with those guys, living and
riding a virtual rollercoaster of emotions and styles right through the
hills and spills of that year. Dianna would occasionally pop in and
make me smile, and even when she was becoming sick she would still
smile and display a zest for life and an optimism that was out of this
world.13 Life moved on, and I became deeply involved in life
changing and at times becoming quite sad, and for whatever reason,
people in my life began leaving; people I knew started passing away at
an alarming rate, most of them under the age of 50. Friends and
relatives of dear friends were leaving, and I began to get depressed.14
But people like my dad and Dianna made it, and struggled through things
that most of us might find to be incredibly painful and depressing, but
with smiles and laughter, and one repeating message: live life, love
life.15 John had written me in May that Dianna’s tumor had
become terminal, and I kept telling myself to look into it, and to go
pay her a visit, just to surprise her and to let her know how far her
vision and spirit had reached. It was clearly on my back-of-my mind
“to do” lists.16 I had another dear friend named Eddie on
that list, and this summer, he departed after a long battle with
cancer. I had seen him a few times in the last couple of years, and I
even tried to call, but again, my regular life overwhelmed me with
whatever it was that seemed so darned important at the time.17
A little over a year ago I had been run off the road at Tully and 101.
It had been raining slightly and I was a little late for Jenny’s
wedding rehearsal, so I was actually being extra careful, thinking that
they would prefer me there on time than spinning around in this light
rain.18 Well, on the way, a car ran me off the road and up
the embankment under the overpass at Tully, and the TOOOOONDRA went up
the hill, spun around and landed back on the road, facing traffic. It
had all happened in slow motion, and when I stopped, the entire world
stopped too.19 All I could think about was that I hoped the
truck was okay so I could get to the church and read from the bible. I
also thought instantly that one second this way or that and I could
have rolled down the embankment. Around a month later a driver had died
in a wreck that was identical to what had happened to me.20 And just this past
week, my wonderful friend and confidante Thuy Ann Le had been in an
enormous traffic accident. We went for a ride in the T0000000NDRA and
talked about how some things can just change a person, and how one
thing can put everything into perspective.21 The passing of
Dianna reminded me of all of that once again. All I thought was that
one visit would have put a smile on that girl’s face. One small effort
might have meant the world to her, and it was definitely a plan. The
same way visiting Eddie was a plan, and on and on.22 There just aren’t enough days to send all the love you want to send.
23 The late, great John Lennon had a lovely lyric in his song Beautiful Boy,
a song he had written for his son Sean. The lyric is meaningful, and
perhaps contains in it a lot of what this entire piece might clumsily
be attempting.24 Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.
25
Farewell Dianna, consider this a tribute to your strength and to your
spirit. I meant to visit, but I had too many other plans.26 For the life of me I couldn’t tell you what they were now.
27 If the memory of you in our brief meetings taught me anything, it would be this, however.
28 Live life. Love life.
29 Peace.
~H~
http://www.xanga.com/bharrington
