Two Years and Counting…
…and the sting is no less. Today would have been Matthew Edward Scheer‘s 31st birthday, but he decided that he did not want to be around for it.
Earlier this month, I watched Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, again. The first time that I saw the movie was with Matt when it came out in the theater, so watching it again made me think about him. However, it did not take this viewing for me to think of Matt, since I still think about him just about every day.
I remember my last physical day with Matt (August 7, 2007). I was in San Diego to turn in my grades. The college did not yet have online grading, and I always used the visit as an excuse for a week long vacation from life. Boy, do I miss those days.
On the week vacations, I always tried to see all of my local friends and catch up with them. Matt was always a part of that group.
This particular time, I actually stayed in Los Angeles because flights were cheaper. I took the train to San Diego for one day and then spent the rest of my time seeing LA and Disneyland.
After turning in my grades, I made a stop at Fashion Valley, mainly to see Matt. I cannot really say that this encounter was much different than any of our others, but that is a good thing.
We hugged. He took a break from work and talked to me while I ate Tacone in the food court. After he got off work, we went to a movie. We saw The Simpsons Movie that day. I am not a Simpsons fan, although I am familiar enough with them, but Matt had already seen The Bourne Ultimatum. After the movie, I walked him to his bike, we hugged, he got on, and I watched him ride away. That was the last time that I saw Matt, and somehow it seems so fitting.
This is one of numerous pleasant memories that I have of time with my friend. Every time a memory passes through my mind (like I said pretty much daily), I have to smile. That is one thing that helped me to deal with the loss. I knew that when all was said and done, I was good to my friend (I feel that some “friends” mistreated him), I loved my friend, and I believe that he knew it. I cannot help but rest easy knowing that.
I spoke to him a couple of times after that. The paramount moment being when he told me he quit his job. This was the same job that I myself quit to move back to Michigan and set up so that he could take over when I left. The job had changed a lot since I left. This was probably a very pivotal point in his fall, and I sometimes wonder “what if I didn’t leave.” I do not dwell on that much, though. There is no way to know whether things would have played out any differently had I stayed.
My last contact was probably trying to talk to him on the eve of his birthday on iChat. He never answered me back. I went ahead and sent him a gift card in an email and went to bed.
it was only a few days later when I got this email from a friend of both of ours:
Hi Urs,
I don’t know if anyone from the store has called you with some shitty
news, give me a buzz if not. XXX.XXX.XXXX
I immediately knew something was wrong with Matt, but I tried not expect the worse. I guess, I would not have wanted to have heard it from anyone else, so I thank this other friend for that. Nevertheless, hearing that one of your good friends is gone is never anything that you want to hear at all.
It is crazy how some days it feels like yesterday. The memories are so vivid in my mind that I have to actively make myself remember that he is gone. Sigh…
Let me get out of sad mode. Like I said, I loved my friend. We had some good times. I saw the good in him, and I am glad that he was once a part of my life. I want to share some of his good today as a tribute. He was a very talented artist, and that was only one of many talents. So, here are some of his works:
Never forget Matthew Edward Scheer.
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