Memorandum

               For the past 6 weeks, I have failed to update this blog.  I know, I said it would be 52 weeks straight of me writing in this, but things change, though I have decided to write as much as possible still.  Since I last updated, there is only one topic who trumps all the others, and that is the passing of our good friend Jeff O’Brien.

                Jeffo didn’t learn about his heart condition until he was 19 and has been fighting an unfathomable battle for the last 7 years, which finally defeated him on the 18^th of March.  There are reasons for things to happen, and there are things which seem unreasonable to be happening.  Jeffo’s condition was one of the unreasonable ones.  Jeffo’s entire journey was one that a close group of friends and I got to be a part of, and over the last 7 years I got to witness strength that I am certain I will never be able to fully comprehend.

                Jeffo and I were religiously tied to hockey from a young age.  We lived within a half mile of each other, and I suppose it’s no surprise that we grew up playing street hockey almost every day after school with a group of like-minded individuals.  It wasn’t until Jeffo went off to college (and then myself a year later as well) that we stopped playing hockey in such large quantities.  A few months before Jeffo’s condition hindered his ability to play, we resurrected the same old, worn, discolored hockey net (which still to this day remains functional) and shot around in his driveway until the sunlight had dissipated in the evening sky.

In lieu of street hockey, Jeffo created a Fantasy Hockey League group for us all to join some 5 years ago.  Up until his passing, he won more than anyone else in that league, and it’s fair to say that he loved hockey more than any of us.  He sat atop the league standings by an unforgiving margin the day he passed away, and will remain league champion always.

                Some stories have the power to change lives, and Jeffo’s story has done that to me.  I will always be thankful for what I have been given, and never take a day for granted.  We never know what kind of a curveball the future can throw, and where we will be in 5 years from now, or 5 MINUTES from now.  Live for the present, not for the future.  Jeffo’s quote which he chose to have hanging above him at the wake states it best:  “And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”

Thanks for the decades of good memories, fun times, and hockey talk, buddy.  <3