Random thoughts

Spent a lot of time on the phone yesterday, checking in with friends and seeing how everyone is doing.

Spent a lot of time reflecting on the time I was able to spend with Jared. Damn, we all had some good times with that guy.

MSUSA Conferences were always a riot! Moorhead conference in 2005, Jared talking about dressing up as Clifford the Big Red Dog...

The absolutely random pictures that he would draw...

Hotdish...

On my 35th Birthday, he was singing the Fergie song, "My Humps" at decibel levels that nearly brought out the Wright County Sheriff, as Nolan song and gyrated in Tootsies...

Speaking of Sheriffs, the story of Ryan, Jared and Nolan staying at Dori's place when the Meeker County Sheriff showed up, campaigning guys..."I swear officer, we're all over 21 and have permission to be here..."

Jared coming up to me at the Dassel Parade wearing his "smart ass" DFL shirt and saying, "you think this is alright to wear"...

And countless other memories...

We're all mourning now. It will take some time to pick the pieces back up and begin to move forward again, and that's fine.

Dori and I were in Marketplace getting some groceries before the "Storm of the Century" hits us. All the sudden, everything started to hit me.

I started to ponder what if this happened on our watch?

I'm in pain right now. I can't imagine being in a position of leadership in MSUSA and having one of my fellow leaders pass away. I can't fathom the feeling if one of the Board members during the Kimball/Reese days passed.

We had legal matters and executive director stuff to deal with, and at times, that was pretty frickin hard.

It pales in comparison.

They did the right thing in cancelling the conference in St Cloud this past weekend. As a matter of fact, it was the only thing they could do...

I know this loss is tough on the staff, officers and board members of MSUSA, it's like losing a family member, ripe with some interesting dysfunctions at times as well!

Kara, Brad and Jason will need a lot of support. It's times like these where our future leaders step forward and carry on the torch, where Team MSUSA grows in strength.

I sat in my chair in the living room for nearly 2 hours Thursday night, not moving, not saying a word. Dori came downstairs and told me, "You know, Jared probably just handed Paul Wellstone the most insane drawing he's ever seen..."

So true...