Schools done. I'm finished with finals. Some people still have one more tomorrow, but soon enough all of us riders will be done with school.

Most of my high school friends have finished their semesters already and have come home to Austin. And when they get into town, it means nothing but mayhem and crazy-ness! In the best of ways of course!

We all get together just like when we all still lived here in Austin. But now, we're spread all over the place. Texas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, California, Boston, etc etc. EVERYWHERE. I find it absolutely incredible that even though we all have gone to college, made new friends and new lives...when we come back to town for summer vacation, spring break, winter break, whatever the occasion. It's just like good ole times again. We share stories about life and our college lives and experiences. On one hand, we'll have fun and make fun of each other, but on the other we'll delve into having deep conversations.

A few of my friends had a small get together this past Saturday night. I stopped on by after spending time with the family. We had a good time, talked, caught up, and shared a few laughs. Two of my friends, Joe Emery and Joe Strmiska were in the kitchen, so I decided to join them.

We stood in the kitchen and talked about summer plans and they brought up the fact that I wasn't going to be here at all. That's when Joe Strmiska said to me:

Thaison, I have a lot of respect for what you're doing this summer. I lost my uncle to cancer...

He then proceeded to tell me the story of his uncle, Chris Ing. Chris was THE biggest UT fan out there. Joe told me a story about one day when he was watching the UT/Colorado game with his mom, Joe E., and some other people. His uncle, Chris, unexpectedly bolted into the house and exclaimed, "Colorad f-ing scored, didn't they???" Joe told me about how he busted out laughing on the inside. His uncle, who he hadn't seen in quite some time, just busted into the house, without any notice, and this was the first thing he said!

He told me about how he was an accountant and always wore business attire everywhere. That's when another side story unwravelled itself...

Joe told me about how one day, not too long ago, he needed to go find nice clothing to wear. He needed some nice shoes, slacks, shirts, etc. So he asked his mom if she would go with him to pick out clothes to wear. His mom responded by looking at him with a blank stair and then saying, "Yeah, I'll go with you, but just so you know...Uncle Chris had dibs on this first." His heart immediately sank as all the memories of his amazing uncle came back.

He also told me about another time where Joe E came to visit him at school. They were sitting in the cafeteria and eating, when a song came on. Soon after, the lyrics had touched Joe S. so much that before he knew it, his eyes began getting heavy... He couldn't help it, but all the emotions hit him at once.

He then he started telling me about his visit to his uncle down in San Antonio. Since his mom had been busy with work, Joe had volunteered to drive down to San Antonio and keep him company as he was in the hospital. They talked and Joe got to spend time with him. While he was there, everything seemed to be getting better. His uncle was stable and looked like he was starting to recover. So Joe started heading back home. He got home and went to sleep...

4 am the next morning, he woke up to his phone ringing. He had kept it nearby just in case. He looked at the phone and saw that the call was coming from his mom...only one thing popped into his head. He knew what was next, why else would his mom be calling at 4 in the morning?

It pains me to see how my friends have gone through such traumatic and painful events in their life. It's so extremely difficult to lose someone so close. I wish for all of my friends that they don't have to go through the same loss as Joe and I did. It feels like the absolute worse thing in the world. And in the end, Joe and I both agreed that cancer is COMPLETELY unfair. Our uncles, were both, two of the people who deserved it the least. As Joe put it nicely,

"If some d-bag were to get cancer, I'd be like, ok...yeah, you deserve it. But when a nice, funny, innocent man gets cancer?? That's just so...it's so-"

I finished the sentence for him, "unfair..."

We both agreed. Why does cancer have to be so unfair? Why do the best people in the world have to end up fighting cancer? What did they ever do to deserve it?

As Joe said to me:

"See, we grew up hearing from adults all the time...'life's unfair, life's unfair.' And the whole time we were like, 'yeah...ok. whatever, life's unfair.' But when something like this happens? You really learn how unfair life is."

He left this world with two kids, 4 & 7. Now these two children, have to grow up without their fathers. Unfair.