So, shit. That news fucking sucks.
Really. Losing a young adult is the worst. I think Hudlin Wagner put this thought in my mind when we lost Ted.
Not to sound too callous, but when a kid dies you haven't seen them as their own individual yet; when an adult dies they've had a chance to do something, to be someone, to live a part of a life. When a young adult dies, though, they're full of promise and vigor.
Just like Joe.
I'm not going to dwell on loss. That's not what the internet is for. If you want to talk, call me. (Ask Elliot. He and I had a good little discussion Friday night about loss.) Call your former roommate, call your former swim coach, call your mom. Call someone. (But you can call me anytime. If you call AC at 2:45am you're probably not going to get him... but then again...)
My memories of Joe are older and more faded than most of yours, I'm sure, but I'm going to share one of my happy memories of Joe with you all and I hope you share one with me.
This is from the training trip I went on with Joe. I can't remember who I shared a room with other than Joe, I think it was Plotzy and Nonny. I shared a bed with one of them. Joe got the couch. I, for one, am a morning person. I loved (yes, past tense) getting up and swimming in the morning. Joe, less so. Being captain, I felt a special responsibility for this high energy goof that I had in my room, you know, making sure he was well fed and the like before we went off to practice. Well, Joe had trouble getting up the first couple of mornings. For some reason, around the third morning I decided that getting in his face and being overly chipper with him would work to get him up. "Good Morning, Sunshine!" I said to him. He couldn't help but laugh at me. It worked every morning the rest of the training trip. And became my phrase with Joe. He pulled it out at the alumni meets I had against him when I showed up hungover and annoyed with the world, "Good Morning, Sunshine!" How can you not love a guy who says that to you and then gives you a big wet hug?
I love you, Joe.
-Free-Ho.
While I don't profess to have been as close to Joe as some of you were, I still considered the kid a friend and I'd like to think he thought the same of me. We partied well together, and I think that says enough.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I saw Joe was when most of us did - at Alumni Meet 2k10. We all hung out a lot together that weekend, and he was super fun to be around. The kid was always witty and ready to crack a joke, and one of my favorite memories of that weekend was classic Sjoberg. Joe, Nonny, and I (among others) were walking down Division, and Nonberg was talking on and on about video cameras, film, and the pros of cons of the various types with relation to color quality (intriguing!). Sjoberg and I did our best to list, and at one point Joe turned to me and said "Dude I wish I could be a 'color connoisseur' like Dave". This was funny (you might have had to be there).
A few days after that weekend, Joe posted a link to a wikipedia article about color quality in camera film on my wall with note that said "Now we can be color connoisseurs too!" (or something along those lines). I found this hilarious.
This probably is not that funny or noteworthy to any of you (although I bet Nonberg can attest to it's humor), but to me, it's Classic Sjoberg - witty, clever, funny. Overall a great guy.
On the common thread of sharing fun memories of Joe, I think I'll share one of my highlights.
ReplyDeleteIt was my Junior year and we were all at some meet. I am not sure the specifics. I believe we were at west. Joe and I were both in the 200 fly. Before the race he called me over and said shhhhh.
I asked him what was wrong and he went something like this:
Nonberg do you feel that?
Feel what?
The breeze,
What Breeze
that of a storm a hurricane must be comin.
For the rest of my time at Carleton this became the phrase between Joe and I. I could not have asked for a better teammate. More importantly I could not have asked for a better friend.