Memorial Day

Today I am thinking about my friend Donovan. Donovan was the nicest kid you'd ever have met. He was considered by many to have not been the brightest kid around, but that was only by those who didn't know him will enough to understand him. He was brilliant, he just had different ways of expressing his brilliance than most people did.

Donovan died in May of 1998. It is hard for me to believe that he's been gone for 12 years. He died canoeing in Cheney Lake. Not being a strong swimmer, Donovan sunk to the bottom of the lake, he couldn't swim and was not wearing a life jacket. The next morning a picture of Donovan's body is being drug up by his foot was on the front page of the Anchorage Daily News. That image, of Donovan's blue jeans, and his unique, recognizable "skater" type shoe is burned into my brain.

Donovan was not a big sports fan but seemed to love sports apparel. He was never seen without his Yankees hat. He also loved wearing jerseys. I loaned him a 49ers jersey I owned back then and I never got it back, until shortly before he did. I saw him when we were both working delivery jobs, we had lunch and he returned the jersey to me, out of the blue. Donovan's funeral was open casket, He was buried in his Yankees hat ,and I put my jersey in there with him.

I wasn't aware how close to Donovan's death it was when I started thinking about him until I looked it up. He was on life support for about three days after the drowning until he was taken off. I got a phone call telling me that he was taken off life support, I never made it to the hospital to say goodbye, I had planned to go the following day. I know, however, that Donovan knows how much I loved him, and I know that he was buried with a piece of me by his side.

So today, on Memorial Day, I am remembering Donovan Carrick-Hunter. He was never in the military, and never would have joined the military. However, he did love his country, he loved his friends and would have done anything for either of them. He was the greatest friend anybody could have had, and he left us far too early. Rest in peace Donovan.