The Longest Hour

This past week was absolutely surreal to me. One of my friends was on trial for attempted murder, and while it certainly seemed to everyone that it was in self defense.... it was hard to leave that decision up to a jury. I have always believed in the American Justice system, but I feel now that it has failed a very dear friend of mine. When the judge returned the verdict of guilty, i felt as if i could not catch my breath. Noone had anticipated this verdict, even under the worst of circumstances. We had all thought maybe he would be in prison for 3-5 years for assault charges.... but attempted murder is a completely different ballgame.

This week I saw another side of my friends. I saw their strength in times of turmoil. I saw how people who may not know each other extremely well can come together when they are needed, and who now share a bond that we will never forget. Friday night as we all sat around on my porch and talked about our friend and the trial there was an entire range of emotions. There was laughter as we remembered the good times, sadness as we remembered the bad, fear as we thought about how badly we needed each other and he had noone.... and thankfulness that we were all able to be there for each other. We cant reach out to our friend right now, but we can pray for him and hope that somehow he knows that we love him and are thinking of him.

I have never been extremely religious... but I have always believed that no matter what tragedy comes before you that if you were not strong enough deep down to deal with it, then it would not have been presented to you in the first place. We all need to learn from these experiences. I know love, and I know true friendship. I have seen the unconditional love that a father has for his son, when he says he would gladly trade places with him in that jail cell without a moments thought. I have seen a mother trying to pick up the pieces and get everything in order.

Myself, I have learned that sometimes tears arent the answer. Shawn and I went through this together, and as this was the friend who introduced us in the first place, it is hard to think of our lives moving forward without him as a part of them. I saw his strength in this sad time, and saw how he was able to comfort his guy friends. He told me how proud he was of me, for enotionally being strong and being there for our friend's girlfriend... and that meant a great deal to me. I feel like we have grown tremendously as a couple through this ordeal... and that gives me hope that we can weather anything brought upon us.

I know that my friend knows how much we love him, and I pray that God will grant him the strength to get him through this.