Two Years

In the fall of 2006 I started my first year at USC Upstate. I also started a new job that fall. I had been working at Zaxby's for 2 years, and in November I had had enough and moved on to Spartanburg Christian Academy...where I have now been for 2 years. The fall of 06 was a very important and exciting time in my life. But something happened in September of 2006 that totally changed the rest of the year. On September 15, Brooks Hammett passed away unexpectedly. He was my manager at Zaxby's and over the years he had become a good friend of mine as well. He was only 24, just married, and very excited about the future! His love and enthusiasm rubbed off on everyone around him! After his death, my year was drastically changed. I hated school ( I had just started a few weeks earlier). It took me a while to get to the point where I could actually go through the day without getting sick just thinking about what had happened. Work without Brooks was extremely different. I gave it a few months to try and sink in, but everything had changed and it was clearly not going to get better. Brooks was the "glue" that held Zaxby's together, and there was a void left behind. Around this time many of the coworkers I had grown to know and love left work as well...so I joined suit, and looked for another job. I had never experienced a loss like that before, and I pray I never will again. It was so unexpected, so sudden, so unbelievable. For about a year I thought about him every single day. It took months before I could even go back into Zaxby's again....and even then it left me depressed so I would stay away. Looking back on everything that happened that fall.....I can see that I have come a long way. Not to say that Brooks is missed less or forgotten.....not at all. But now I can see that pain will fade with time, but even when the pain has lessened there will always be a scar leftover. I can look back at him with fond memories, laughter, and an occasional tear even now. Of course no can know why he was taken from us so soon, but we do know that God is in control and He works through circumstances to teach us and help us in the long run. After Brooks passed away I learned what it means to be friends, to love, to smile, to radiate joy, and to always be excited about the future. I was able to remember these things in him and try to apply them to my life as well. But anyway, I was just thinking about the two years that have passed now, and how much has changed, and yet what will never change....our love for Brooks and our thankfulness to God for giving us the opportunity to have had him in our lives.


A Year

There is always a time you'll remember.
You'll use it to mark a year.
My year is not marked by the beginning of college,
Not marked by the beginning of a new job.
My year, instead, is marked by an end.
My year is marked by the end of a life.
The end of a friend.
The end of the last summer with him.
This mark reminds me of how long it has been.
Of how many moments he has missed.
Of the time he has not been here.
But this day that marks an end, also marks a beginning.
It marks the beginning of tears.
It marks how long it's been since we had to start remembering him.
It marks the beginning of us missing him.
The beginning of the first autumn without him.
No matter how many years go by,
Every September we will think of him.
We think of him every day.
But each September will be different.
It will mark another year.

We miss you Brooks!