Life Plans

We all have life plans. Some people's plans are more extreme than others. For example, my life plan is to serve a 2 year LDS mission after graduating from high school and then going to college where I will enroll/participate in either the Air Force ROTC or the Marines ROTC. (Not 100% sure on how exactly that works but I'm slowly figuring it out.) I plan on going to the University of Utah for college and getting my major in Information Technology with my minor in the ROTC (yes, you can actually do that. Who knew?!). Now, after my career with the military is over, I have no clue what I'm going to do afterward. But that's part of the adventure, right? You'd like to know where your going and what your going to do. But that's not always the case.

I have a very good friend who wants to do the (almost) exact same thing I'm doing. Crazy, right? Me and him are basically planning on doing these things together. But what happens if we're in different units? What happens if something changes suddenly and I'm not there? There are a lot of 'what ifs' that nobody knows the answer to. You go about doing the things that you know are correct. But what if the Lord desides that it's your time to go?

See, here's the thing. I'm LDS and we believe that the reason people go is: 1) they finished what they needed to do here in this Earth, even if to us it doesn't seem like it. 2) to help someone else overcome a trial while also fulfilling number 1. You see, I can relate to this in a personal level.

Settle in for a long story.

To set the scene for this, we need to go back a little bit. Back to February 2018, before this blog/journal even started. I was very close friends with three other boys. Their names were Carson, Logan, and Oscar (for those reading this after other posts, Tanner has not entered the picture yet). Anyway, one day near the end of the month (I think like the 23rd?), there was a birthday party I went to for Oscar. Carson and Logan were also in attendance. Throughout the day, there were many activities including airsoft wars, board games as well as prank calls. About 20:30 (8:30 pm) that night, we all departed, thanking Oscar for inviting us and each going our separate ways back home. I get home around 20:55 (8:55 pm). I was gonna g to simply take a shower and then go to bed but for some reason I kept delaying it. I'm wandering in the kitchen when my dad comes out if his room and says something has happened at Carson's house. He was the Elders quorum president. This was shortly before Elders and High Preists were combined into one group. So me and my dad head over to their house. We pass two cops without their lights on as we drive up the secluded road to their house. We get there and there are a lot of cars in the driveway. I happen to recognize one of my other friends vehicle there (not Oscar or Logan. They never showed up that night). We go into the house and find furniture has been haphazardly shoved off into a small carpeted area close by. Many people are gathered around in the big open living room. Their house was a two story log house with a basement. The stairs to the second level led up to a balcony that overlooked the large living room. So keep in mind this is a big room and a fairly big house. People are crowded in this large living space. I manage to spot the other friend standing amongst the crowd with his girlfriend. He makes eye contact with me and motions to the attached kitchen so we can talk. We get there and I ask what happened. According to what he heard, the dad went to the bathroom and tripped, hitting his head on the sharp edge of the counter. He had been taken by ambulance to the hospital but they weren't sure if he was going to make it there. We were waiting for an update.

To make a really long story somewhat shorter, I'll brief over the next two agonizingly long hours and some details in this area are fuzzy. I talked to a few others who said basically the same thing as before. To try to ease the kids, they moved back to the carpeted area and moved the furniture back to its original position. They turned on the TV and began to watch the live action version of Woody Woodpecker. I sat down next to Carson and his littlest sister, Brinlee (not spelled correctly). She sits on my lap and we discuss some things while the movie is going. I also make conversation with Carson. With about 30 minutes left in the movie, we get a call. The dad, Trevor, has a pulse and they are preparing him for life flight transport to another hospital. A few minutes pass and another call comes through. Weather over the mountain is hindering the helicopter from flying over. They're transporting him to the local airport to take a small plane, safer than a helicopter in the weather conditions presented. They will call when they get ready to take off so we can meet them out there. (Mom is not with the kids, she's with her husband and would like the kids to meet them out there.)

After much talk and planning, it is desides that a good friend of my dad's will drive the family car out there and we will trail behind in our Suburban with the kids. (Conditions were not great and the car did not have 4 wheel drive. Our Suburban did she was determined safer for the kids. We were also going to pick up the driver and leave the family car there for them.) It is now almost 00:30 (12:30 am). We leave and drive the three hours out there. Arrival at around 03:30 (3:30 am). We park both vehicles in a nearby parking garage and walk into the hospital. We find Mom in the surgical waiting room with other family members. Words are exchanged and the three of us (my dad, his friend and me) go back to the garage. We determine not to drive home and sleep fitfully in the car. Around 07:00 (7:00 am), I'm awoken and the news is delivered to me. Trevor did not make it. We drive back, a somber mood over us. We do talk the entire way but it was not light-hearted. We drive back to their house and spend half an hour there, for reasons I can't explain before leaving and going back home. It is almost 11:30 when we get back home.

Almost a week later, the funeral is held. Afterward, I go back to the graveside where Logan is standing, basically alone. I stop and we stand in silence, exchanging a few words here and there. We hug and put an arm around one another, a symbol of brotherhood. We stand there for a while before the mom drives up. She shares some powerful insight before Logan and I leave her there in peaceful silence.

Trevor still has a family to raise and care for. So why did the Lord take him away before he could do that? I don't and we may never know the answer. But the Lord doesn't do things without a reason. And while we may not understand its reason now, somewhere down the road, we will find it, whether it be in this life or the next.

I know that we have a Father in Heaven and he loves us very much. In times when you feel totally alone, know that you're not. We always have someone by our side, helping us through this life so that we may return to live with Him. He knows our pains. He knows our struggles. He knows how we feel. He also knows how to ease our pain and struggles, so long as we are willing to ask Him.