Our Friend Shane

On Friday, Ed and I attended the funeral of our good friend and law enforcement officer, a wonderful father and husband. Shane Wyrsch, 35, was killed by a drunk driver last Monday. He was on his way home from a meeting when he came upon some guy, the "alleged" drunk driver, weaving around in his lane. An off duty police officer behind this driver was on the phone trying to get through to report him to dispatch, but, before she could get through, this "alleged" drunk crossed the center line and slammed head on into Shane's truck. Here is what King 5 said:

U.S. Forest Service officer killed in crash
09:04 AM PDT on Wednesday, March 21, 2007
By: BERNARD CHOI / KING 5 News

BUCKLEY, Wash. – A suspected drunk driver involved in a horrific crash that killed a respected law enforcement officer should never have been on the road.
The Washington State Patrol says U.S. Forest Service Officer Shane Wyrsch was driving home on Highway 410 near Buckley Monday night when a pickup crossed the center line and slammed into him head-on. Witnesses say the man who hit Wyrsch was driving very erratically. Troopers say he was likely drunk, and driving with a suspended license.
All that's left of Shane Wyrsch's truck is a mangled pile of metal.

U.S. Forest Service
Shayne Wyrsch was killed in a head-on crash near Buckley Monday night.
The 16-year veteran patrolled the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest and the communities nearby.
"Each and every one is like a brother, and losing Shane will be very similar to losing a family member," said Enumclaw Police Officer Don Banner.
"He lived in this community and anything he could do to further make it a good place to live, he never hesitated," said Enumclaw Police Lieutennant Eric Sortland.
Wyrsch died Tuesday morning, leaving behind a wife, two children and countless colleagues.
A spokesperson says the entire U.S. Forest Service family is devastated by Wyrsch's passing. The State Patrol plans to investigate this as a vehicular homicide.

At Shane's service, one of the speakers said that "it didn't matter how long you knew Shane. You could have met him for a minute, an hour or have known him for years. You would always remember him and take something away from that meeting of him." It's true. Shane had a presence that was huge. Not just because he was a big man, but, he has this, this, "thing" about him. He made you feel like you were special.

Shane loved motorcycles. If you knew him, he'd want to buy you one. When he found out that I bought my TL1000R, he was almost as excited as me. He sent me an email asking me about my bike, what kinds of modifications were on it already, what kind was I going to make, and "here's a picture of my bike with all my mods. Can you see the ..." He even participated in an email campaign with Ed and me to get our other friend Matt to buy the same bike he and I have. Which he, of course, did. He had to! Shane would have never let him live it down if he didn't!

Shane was passionate about everything he participated in, especially his kids. Ed was telling me about an email that Shane had sent him the week before he died with a picture of his boys doing wheelies on their little kiddie bikes. He wrote to Ed, "Man! Look at my kids! They're already doing wheelies! Don't know where they get it though!" He was present in every part of their lives and even looked forward to the time when Zoe had had enough and needed some time off away from the boys. I hope that we can help to make the memory of their dad as clear as we can so they can know him like we did.

I did a lot of thinking on Friday. What is really important in life? What am I doing to make sure that those important things are always in the forefront of my life? What have I not made peace with? If I died tomorrow, would the people that I care about most know that I truly care about them? I just can't live my life taking these things for granted any more. Putting things off is not an option.

So now, my friends, I become the proverbial "freak show". If you are drinking, you will not drive if I have anything to say about it. I will come and get you no matter what time it is or where you are. I will drive you home from the party or you will stay overnight. There will be no arguing.

However, should you choose to argue, my suggestion would be for you to pack a lunch. I'm a big girl and I'm stubborn. It will probably take all day.

Rest in peace, Shane. We miss you.

June 1971-March 2007

Vera's Letter

Dear Vera,

You are now at the age of three and one half (as you say). I love that you are such a girly-girl and want to wear the "crappy shoes" and fluffy, pink, princess dresses; that you are the absolute opposite of your mommy!I love that you shriek at the boys to "Look at me now!" and wait for them to see you do a pirouette. Then, the next minute you are forcing them to wrestle with you and decide the "belly-whomper" move is appropriate.

Now that you are in pre-school, you have begun to be aware of the world around you. You are more interested in where you came from:

Mommy, when Daddy was a little boy, a long time ago, where was I?

You weren't born yet.

But where was I? Was I dead?

No, you were waiting to be born.

But, where?

I love how sweet you can be when you know that Auntie is sad:

Auntie, where's Jessie?

Jessie died.

Is she sick?

She was sick. But she died.

Could you take her to the doctor to get a shot and she'll be better?

We did that, but, she was old and couldn't get better.

Where is she now?

I remember when you were staying with Uncle Ed and me when your house flooded and you couldn't find your "damn cat." You searched everywhere in our house for Harley but that "damn cat" couldn't be found. He was actually hiding on the top of our dresser, but you were too short to see him.

I am thrilled that you LOVE the Wizard of Oz. I am amazed that the wicked witch didn't scare the pants off of you when she made her debut, but, you were strong and didn't flinch. I love showing you my new ornaments that Uncle Ed buys me for Christmas every year because I know that you enjoy them as much as me.

My favorite, though, is how you make Bop smile. It is fun to watch him tease you and make you laugh. It reminds me of when your mommy and I were little and he did those things to us. I know that he misses you very much now that you have gone back to live in your brand new house.

You and Munka have power struggles. I laugh when you try to tell Munka how it's going to be and watch Munka dig in for the fight. More often than not, Munka is the winner of these struggles because she is more stubborn than you. Don't hold this against her. She will always win and it's better if you learn this now.

Vera, you have a giant future ahead of you. I hope that your curiosity never leaves you. I hope that you never lose your fierceness and the side of you that makes me want to have my own children.

Love you bunches,
Auntie

Marriage Rules

Before anyone gets married, I think that there should be a rule that the prospective husband and wife should be made to complete a home remodeling project together. If they can live through the ENTIRE project without killing each other, live in the same house together, go to work, complete normal house chores and still like each other, then they should be allowed to get married. Ed and I have completed one such project. Well, I guess technically it's not complete. There's still trim to put around the built in cupboard and we still need a new door.

Two years ago, Ed bought me a claw foot bathtub for my birthday. I LOVE it. However, this claw foot bathtub turned into an entire master bath remodel. I mean really, how can you just take out an old bathtub and put in a nice white, new one and not change any of the other almond colored things in there? Well, and since you have the toilet, sinks, and shower out, you may as well get a new vanity and counter top. Oh, and since we have the vanity out, why don't we tile the floor?

Hmmm....

The newest project is the front bathroom remodel. This one HAD to be done. Ed was under the house rearranging our cable stuff so that we could get cable Internet into our office when he hears an ominous "drip, drip, drip".

Crap.

He found that our guest bathroom shower was leaking inside the wall and dripping down under the house. The insulation was soaked and falling and it was a huge mess. Thank God I have a husband who is talented and has the gumption to fix things! He was able to cap everything off and stop the leaking. (this was last September!)

At Christmas time we figured out that we'd have to rip out the tub/shower combo in order to fix the leak. Thank goodness we did that because the connections behind the wall were only finger tight and pulled apart when he barely touched them. (double yikes)

So here we are again, with no bathtub/shower in the guest bathroom and at a quandary as to what to do. You all know! You can't put in a brand new, white tub/shower combo without replacing the toilet, sinks, vanity, flooring, doors... Yes people! We are again in the middle of a bathroom remodel.

This one is going much smoother as we sort of know what to expect and have bought as much as we can before hand, therefore reducing our trips to Home Desperate and Blows.

And guess what? I still like my husband! For as much as we DON'T think alike, we are working pretty smoothly together. I think that we would have passed the marriage test, if it were required!

Oh rats... I've got to go. Ed needs help hanging a door...