A splash of whiskey on the ground...

Out of respect for Brian, I figured a new thread for what I have to say is best.

We are all adults here and make our own decisions in life. Some of those decisions have adverse effects then the intended outcome. Over the years, I have had individuals come in and out of my personal life, some return, some lost forever.

Accidents happen and nobody wakes up in the morning and gets excited about being injured or worse. The whole point of this thread is about preventing how bad these accidents are. Wear your seatbelt, helmet, safety gear, check the gun to be safe, slow down, and take in life.

I sat outside last night thinking about the friends I have lost over the years and maybe could have done something about it. Spoke up or encouraged them to make better choices.

As I thought of those friends, I smiled, splashed a little whiskey on the ground for them.

So why not remember a friend and tell us about him/her. I'll start.

Ryan Oakland: I have never met anyone like this in my life. I was with him the night in HS when he got a DUI (yeah, we were drunk and dumb). He swerved his Toyota truck into the other lane, then noticed a cop behind him. He then swerved back into the lane he just left, turned on his blinker, and then proceeded to make a proper lane change. Yeah, we got pulled over. The female police officer had him get out of the truck and got in his face, yelled "have you had anything to drink?"

Of course is answer "not a tttttthhhiiiinnggg" in a slured manor.

She asked him like what seemed 100 times. Finally....he fessed up and said he had been drinking.

The officer asked "how many beers?"

Get this, he answers "I have only had twelve one packs."

I was laughing like a pack of hyenas. I didn't help his cause. This did not end well.


Another time we were out drinking and stopped into Taco Bell. Ryan said to go ahead, he had to go give a piss. We all had our evening snack, were talking shit and then realized that Ryan wasn't around. It wasn't uncommon for Ryan to just leave a party and walk home...like 15 miles. We almost left, but curious to know if he was still in the bathroom. I go in and looked down, and there was an ass hanging out from under the stall. Apparently, he passed out on the shitter with is pants/underwear around his ankles and fell off the John. Thank the Lord that cell phones were not available back then. I was laughing so hard, but couldn't help but rear back and kick Ryan so hard in the ass my foot hurt. He didn't budge. This stall had an internal lock that could only be opened from the inside. There was no way in hell I was going to crawl on Taco Bell bathroom floor at 2am. So I was just going to pull him out. As you can imagine as I was pulling Ryan out from the bathroom stall, bare assed and all, the surprise on a couple dudes that walked into the bathroom. They thought I was ass raping him and we got into a fight. So now I'm taking punches, my friend is still passed out drunk and half naked. This did not end well.

The end of May 1993, three friends decided to go inner tube the Yellowstone River. The river was extreamly high and fast. Ryan, Greg, and myself loaded up three semi tubes and went ~18 miles upstream. Beer cooler..check, inner tubes.... shit, lost one on the way out...check check, didn't tell anyone where we were...perfect.
We set in around 10am. Water was cold, but just fine by me. The current was strong. Our tubes were hauling ass...the beers going down good. We were about half way in our trip and noticed ahead that a tree had fallen halfway across the river. This is where everything went south. We paddled our asses off, but we didn't make it. Greg and I were on the tubes and Ryan was free swimming. Greg hit first and immediately went underwater. A second later I hit but was able to get up and hold on to a rather large branch, cutting my forearms to hamburger as I climbed up out of the river. Ryan made it to the river bank and was yelling that Greg never came up. I started kicking the last tube out from the branches and out and behold, Greg came out with it. He was trapped in branches and the pressure of the tube/current pinned him down. That kind of freaked us out. We walked over to Ryan and tried to figure out what to do. Well Ryan said he would just float down the river and drink beer. When he got back to the motorcycle we left at the end he would go get the truck and pick us up. Greg was still a little freaked out and I told him we would just walk over to the highway from our location and start walking. Ryan started floating and then he started laughing his ass off. We didn't know why...yet. We started walking towards the highway and came up to the problem and then realized why Ryan was laughing his ass off. Yep, in all the commotion of trying to miss the damn tree, we missed that the river split into a fork....we were on an island. No shoes, no shirts, cut off jean shorts and mosquitoes everywhere. I had never been bitten by so many in my life. We were stuck on an island, Greg flipped out from almost drowning, and being eaten alive. So we got all McGiver on that ass. We made mud and smeared it all over each other's backs/all over and made some tall grass bundles to light on fire to notify someone. Yeah, Ryan took the lighter. That was a bust and might as well been Pom-poms at that point. We were getting desperate and we started looking at swimming across the river. I had always been a very strong swimmer, but Greg...not so much. That was out. We came across a fisherman on the other side and waved our hands and grass Pom-poms and got his attention. He must of figured we needed help. This man called the fish and game and they came out in their most powerful river boat to get us. Just to stop along side the bank, they were at full throttle and still losing ground. We jumped aboard and were relieved. They asked us if there was anyone else. We told him about Ryan. They sent a city cop out to the drop off point and nobody was there. The motorcycle was. So frantically we went up and down the river looking for Ryan. No tube, nothing. We thought the worst. Come to find out, his motorcycle wouldn't start. Finally, the cops needed to maybe notify someone. The cops went to Ryan's home and knocked on the door. That son of a bitch answered the door. He was tired and probably drunk and needed a nap. Anyway, they took his dumb ass down to where we were and got a picture of all three of us. Ryan was all clean with a shit eating grin and Greg and I were still mud from the waist up and seriously pissed. The cops and fish and game were laughing their asses off at that story (we had the coolest cops ever in Montana).

I left for boot camp three weeks later.

Our senior year, Ryan started smoking pot....a lot. I talked to him several times and voiced my concerns before I had left. Ryan died almost one year after I had left. He was stoned, drinking and riding a MX bike in the ditches to get home. A farmer was making a left hand turn, didn't see Ryan on the dirt bike in the ditches (how could he?) and he slammed into the side of the truck and died right there.

When I returned from Iraq and went home, I never went to his grave. I was angry. To this day....never stood I front of my best friend at the cemetery. Not sure what that is all about...


So that was one of my many friends that have past on to the next life. Tell us about someone special to you and the things that make them your friend. Remember them, splash a little whiskey on the ground for them....

 

That is great news to actually hear that. I went to four funerals before I graduated HS. Lost another 3 while I served in the military (not fellow servicemen, friends from back home). Things have slowed down these past 15 years.

I may have to talk about Wade King, another lost way to soon.

 

Wow Law. At least you were able to catch up even for a short time right?

 

That is a fact my man. The only thing one can't buy back is time.

 

Chris your awesome. I am taken back by how much you guys care about the other members on this great forum. I want to have a beer sometime with all of the regulars.

So if I would have seen this before now I would have really splashed some whiskey on the ground for my friend Miah Zaroban. If you didn't see my other thread he is currently in ICU with severe head, lung and spine injuries.

His name is Jerimiah but because there are so many Jerimiahs and Jeremy's he was and always will be Miah to me. He is the most moral Christian man I know. Hell he saved himself for his wife. Always had a smile on his face. Made friends with everyone. Always found something in common to bring himself closer as friends. Huge impact on everyone's life that he was around because of his fun loving personality.
The thing that I remember the most were the camping trips that we went on. So much fun. He would be the fifth wheel in most cases and not care one bit. He knew that he was waiting for someone special and hadnt be found her yet. Didn't bother him.
So much fun. He would sing the munchkin song in a perfect munchkin voice as everyone was starting to fall asleep. Went from half asleep to laughing our asses off.
Invited him to my Halloween party on saturday but later found ou he already had plans of hunting that week and weekend. They were coming home early from the 6 day hunting trip so they decided to have some fun in the utv. Deriving down the road they came upon a slight incline that lead to a sharp turn that couldn't be seen until cresting the hill. Sharp turn led to rolling down the embankment. No helmet. No seatbelt.
His friend in the passenger seat with a broken leg (we think but he refuses treatment), concussion and bleeding in the brain runs a mile to get help. Flight for life trip and life support and we are to where we are today. Organs and brain only kept alive by machines. They are making the call today because his intercranial pressure rose too high and body temperature is through the roof.
Rest in piece Miah!

 

What a great story of your friend Brian. An inspiration to say the least.

 

@ToyotaTundraMike , this is a thread about lost loved ones. Family or friends, one in the same in my book.

What a moving story about your grandfather and some rock solid advice.