Delays hurt

I just learned that a friend and former classmate passed away quite unexpectedly tonight. We were in band and choirs together, touring around states and making wonderful music. We had planned to be roommates our first year in college, but my life path took me in a different direction than hers. She went on to college and became a band teacher, and I ... lived a very different life.

As a band teacher, she launched music programs in one or two of the smaller schools in the state, and eventually came "home" to the high school from which we graduated 15 years ago. They had just won a band competition and were on the way home, when the bus driver of the woodwind bus passed out. This courageous teacher grabbed the steering wheel and tried to right the bus, but it was already headed off the road. She was thrown from the bus as it rolled and died. Her students, thankfully, lived. Many have broken bones, but all have broken hearts.

Earlier this year, our little chamber choir of 28 voices had planned to have lunch together. For some reason, that didn't happen.

And now it never can.

Delays create regrets, and they hurt.