Chapter 7: Part 2, The day the music died.

I don't play the piano in front of people anymore. I'm still really quite good at it.  I'll play in church, just the hymns, but that's about it.  And I think that's different.

The song playing for this post is Together we will live forever, by Clint Mansell. This is my favorite song to play, ever. I can sit at the piano alone, with no one listening, and arrange music, create music, or just sit and think.  It's a special time for me that I don't often get.  And only the most special of people get to hear me actually create something.

Here's why.

7th grade was fun. I was really cool back then (what happened?).  I ran around with the popular 8th grade girls.  I wore the trendy clothes.

Then 8th grade came, and I was back running around with Reed and all our buddies. Another great year.  All our teachers loved us. We were smart and cool, and we had fun.

So, we had just recently moved up to Neola right before the 8th grade school year. Trevor's older brother, Bryson, had come home from his mission in California that summer, if I remember correctly. Tyler was just turning 19 in the fall, and would soon be leaving for his mission.

He got his call to Brazil, I can't remember which mission.  He gave his farewell talk on the 15th of December, and would be hopping a plane to Brazil the following day I believe.

Trevor's mom and dad would be driving him out to Salt Lake City, and Bryson was going along for the ride to drop him off.

Trevor's dad, Bruce, was a really great guy. He was in the Bishopric of the ward, and knew my family well.  Everyone in the whole neighborhood was close.

Well, the farewell talk was great.  He was gonna be an awesome missionary.  For some reason, I'm not really sure why, Trevor stayed home in Roosevelt while everyone else drove out to Salt Lake. I think it was to feed his dog or something like that.

I do remember late the next night, hearing my sister telling me that there had been some sort of accident on the road to Salt Lake.  Her boyfriend or someone had heard some news about the Hunts getting in a wreck over Strawberry. Needless to say, I was pretty much freaked out by hearing that. Maybe it wasn't true. Maybe it was some misunderstanding.

So my mom called Gayla Hicken, Jill's mom. Their house was riiiight in between my house and Trevor's. If anyone knew anything, they would.

I'll tell you what I remember. I remember the look on my mom's face as she started to cry. She was on the phone, leaned over the kitchen counter. Dad was in the shower.  Reed was in our room.

I ran back to my room, knelt down, and prayed that they would be okay, that Trevor would somehow be okay too.

I banged on the door of my parents' bathroom, told my dad there had been an accident, and that they had all been killed. They tried to resuscitate them at the scene. Nothing.

Flash forward. We're in dad's truck, my parents, Reed and I.  We're driving down to Roosevelt. Trevor was down the street at Tony Summers' house.  When we showed up, I think I remember Bishop Staker there, Tony and his parents, and there was someone else.

Reed and I sat down on the couch, on either side of Trevor. We were all cried.

I don't remember much of anything else accept the viewing and the funeral.

Kent Haslem went down with us to the viewing.   It was at the Roosevelt Stake Center.  It took me a while to get up the courage to go in.  I finally did. I think I about passed out.  It was a room with four open caskets. It was rough.  Tyler was there, Bryson, then I saw Sandra. That's where I about lost it.

Bishop Summers said something to me, hoping to cheer me up somehow. I got dizzy. I had to get out of there. I broke down crying again.

A day or two after that, was the funeral.  There was a spot saved for my family on the third or fourth row from the front of the chapel.  There were like 4 or 5 hundred people in that chapel. Maybe more.

They rolled the four caskets in while the prelude played. Then the family followed and sat down on the front rows. Then President Boyd K Packer walks in and sits on the stand with the Stake Presidency and Bishopric.

I remember Trevor's oldest sister, Kim, played Finlandia on the grand piano at some point during the service. Maybe that's why "Be Still My Soul" is my favorite hymn.

President Packer spoke at some point. I think it was the first time that week that I had sort of felt better.
There were TV news cameras in the church, and outside. I guess the whole thing made big news.

I was kind of lost after that. I know I could probably never understand what Trevor had to go through. But it was hard for me in my own way.  It was like, the day the music died. At least for me. I didn't want to play anymore. Not for anyone to see or hear.  The piano became kind of my own way to be close to them.  I'd only play at home, and my dad would usually be the only person who listened.

It's still kind of the same now.  I'll only sit down and play for myself. And if I play for someone who's not family, they must be pretty special.  

I guess it still makes me feel closer to them.  It's like, I run my fingers across the keys, and Sandra could be in the kitchen making us breakfast again, or Bruce is out back chopping some wood. Maybe Tyler is in his room playing the guitar, or Bryson is in the basement playing a computer game.  It takes me right back.  It's one of my favorite things in the world, and something I rarely do anymore.

It's important to me. It's who I am.  And I can finally talk about it openly.

Trevor eventually moved to Enterprise, Utah with family.  He left for his mission just before we did. He served in San Francisco, and is now married and living in Logan with his wife Kelsey.

 I got to see them back in summer/fall of 2011 when Reed and I helped him move a bunch of his house into a storage unit when they were moving.  It was so great to see them. It was just like old times, accept we all have trucks, and jobs, and careers, and college, and mortgages, and businesses. I couldn't help but imagine us as kids knee deep in the sandbox.

This is the obituary that came out in Deseret News.

I'm not really sure where we're going with Chapter 8....Let me know if you have any requests or suggestions.

Love you all.