Matt

Wow. Woke up to learn that a friend has died. His name is Matt T., he's from Terre Haute and is of course a pilot. He was a ramp guy at Oshkosh in Warbirds, did formation with us in his RV and other things, also had his SIC in the C-47/DC-3, went around with Gunfighter to help out, etc. He was in Arizona with JP and Jordan for a groundschool, and got home Sunday late night/early Monday morning. They usually eat out twice a week but it's not unusual for him to not make those. Jordan started texting him about an upcoming trip to St. Louis and he hadn't responded. Then Friday came, and Matt missed the pilot lunch at Friday and his phone went right to VM, and Jordan knew something was really wrong. He and his wife immediately got in their car and headed to his house, and called the police. They get there, and the police went in first, but then they had to have Jordan come in, because Matt's dogs were guarding his body, and wouldn't let the police near. Jordan had to go in and remove his friend's dogs from his body that had been there up to 5 days.  That is...awful, traumatic, he's not gonna get past that one easily.  Matt didn't have any family, just an estranged brother, so the airport people were his family. So he got home, died alone, and wasn't discovered for days, where his dogs who hadn't been fed for days, stayed by his side to protect him. 

From a selfish standpoint, just about two weeks ago I had talked to Jordan on the phone, and we talked about Matt, because he had caused some issues in the Indiana CAF group, been a bit of a problem, and I said so. So when I learned that Matt had died, I didn't want to reach out to Jordan with condolences because I didn't want to look like I was being fake or hypocritical. But my gosh, Matt was still a friend, and just because I was annoyed at how he handled something didn't mean I didn't care, or wanted him gone. So I argued with myself for a day and then reached out to Jordan, and I'm really glad I did. It's not about you, it's about being there for a friend who is hurting. And this is a tough one.

This is Jordan, Matt and me when we ran into each other in New York randomly one day.

The rest of today, we're watching the Superbowl. I heard we're supposed to be boycotting it but I can't tell if I'm supposed to be boycotting it for the conservatives because of the NFL stuff or for the liberals because there's a Presidential interview before it starts and I think Musk bought some advertising? I don't know. Whatever side wants me to boycott, you're out of luck. It's just a game today, something to watch and something to do on a dreary Sunday afternoon. Either way I think I'd be pleased. I'm a little tired of the Chiefs too, but if they can for the first time do 3 Superbowls in a row, that's a new record and that's pretty cool. If the Eagles can win, I think I like them better as...people. As a team, and they lost last year to the Chiefs, so if they can get retribution and redemption, I'd be happy for them. Meanwhile I'm having pizza and not doing a lot else. Kaylee will probably join us later too once the game starts. Why not, right? Something to do. 

Oh, we're getting new valances in the house too. Our old ones aren't looking good even washed now, so we're tossing them and getting some new ones. Our whole house is dated except for Kaylee's room, but there's not really a good reason to redo the guest bedroom or whathaveyou either. Lot of money that for now we need to try to recuperate anyway from other stuff. But it does look like a grandma room up there. The kitchen needs it too. OUR bedroom looks like the 80s exploded in there. But hey...we'll live. We're comfortable and all is well. I'm not super picky, glad for what we have.

Which reminds me of one last gratitude thing. Walking and driving around in the sunshine the other day in Phoenix, I was back to fully appreciating taking someone else somewhere else and getting paid to go along. ;)