"who let the blogs out?" OR the sad part of the job

this blog is starting to become like a wierd al yankovich record in the sense that i'll write a post and then wait long enough for everyone to forget i still have a blog before writing another. unlike weird al, however, this is not an intentional publicity move. i'm largely just forgetful and lazy. (and the first post title is referencing the parody ways of said singer. which is why i don't really do parody..)

here goes..

this is actually kind of a sad "back to blogging" post. last week i heard that a couple of students from a local high school that i covered while working for the clay county news had been in an accident and that the passenger had died. the current managing editor of the paper had told me the news, but at the time, the names of the students had not been released.

yesterday, i went back into the ccn office and glanced at a copy of this week's issue, seeing the picture of a girl that was familiar, and, after reading the headline, realized that it was her who died in the accident. reading further, the driver of the car, who is in serious condition at the hospital, was also very familiar. covering the county schools for the entire spring semester, i had plenty of interaction with the students while on the ccn staff, but none as much as with these particular students. the high school they attend(ed) was always one of the more friendly to me in terms of the students, and if there were two students that i would find myself covering/saying hi to/casually conversing with, it was these two girls.

i had first met the driver at one of the first events i had covered since coming. i interviewed her and two other students from the school about their involvement in a wrapping party for needy families. from there, she was always someone i'd say hi to if i crossed paths, stopping for a brief conversation or the occasional interview. in showing my face at a lot of the school events, i had even spoken with her parents a couple of times.

the passenger, who was killed in the accident, i also met at an early event, a spaghetti feed to raise money for a trip to washington, d.c. that her and three other seniors were attending. again, she was involved and there were plenty of "hellos" and brief conversations, with me even running into her in a store in hastings after she graduated where we had talked about what she was doing for college. i even had a lot of interaction with her parents, too. he dad, a minister at a local church, held a fundraiser for a mission trip during which, and after which, i had spoken with him when i would see him. her mom was always around, helping at various events, and was always good to talk to.

so.. (and i suppose i would have been at whoever was involved) to see that it was these two girls involved in the accident, i was shocked and a little shaken. especially that the one girl, who just graduated in the spring, had died in the accident. that makes (as far as i know) three people that i have talked to out here who have died. i guess for what i do and the amount of people i meet through my job, that's bound to happen, but the fact that it was those two girls, out of anyone, hit me a little harder, combined with the fact, like i said, that i knew their parents.

so, kind of a downer to get back into it, but i wanted to share. you never like to see the bad news, especially when it's about someone you know. buckle up, be safe. you never do know.