Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Jenny Sengpiel died on Saturday in a plane crash in Montana.

Jenny and I went to high school together. We drove downtown to Milwaukee every Monday night for MYSO rehearsal. We were best friends for a while, though we drifted apart in later years. She was engaged to be married in August. She and her fiance both died when the plane they were in crashed shortly after take-off. They were going sky-diving before leaving Montana at the end of the month.

Even though I have a paper due Thursday and an exam tomorrow, I just can't stop thinking about her. We had reconnected on Facebook this year. She was a really good person, and a fantastic musician. I remember riding with her and talking about what music we'd want played at our funerals when we died. She and I both decided on the Rutter Requim. I think they're playing it at her funeral on Monday.

I am just so, so sad. I'm looking back on our time in high school and thinking, we didn't know that she only had 10 more years, or 8 more years, before her life would be over. She was supposed to be just starting her life when it was really almost done.

I just think about the kids she should have had. I think about the cd's she was supposed to record, and the orchestras she should have played with, and the people she should have given music lessons to. I think about how she was supposed to be a big sister for so much longer than she was. She was in love. She was just starting.

And now she's gone. I wonder how she'd feel about being in the news, and what she'd think about how very many people cried when they heard the news. I wonder what she was thinking when she died. I hope she held Kyle's hand.

I wrote to a good friend of mine and told her how much I appreciated her. I haven't gotten mad at Mike. I haven't slept well. I just hurt and hurt and hurt. I can focus for a little while, and then I just hurt.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Only after the last tree has been cut down,
only after the last river has been poisoned,
only after the last fish has been caught,
only then will you realize that money cannot be eaten.
--The Cree People