Remembering Mike Essays - 1159, Nelle A. Coley, David Meece

Remembering Mike Remembering Mike The death of my friend Mike Walker taught me the true meaning of the clich?, ?Life does not last forever, so live each day like it is the last.? I treasure my friends and family more than anything in the world. A good friend is hard to find. I thought this was true until the first day I met Mike. I remember the day perfectly and I will always remember it for as long as I live. To me Mike was a great person. He was always laughing and telling jokes. Of course he had his down times like everyone else, but he did not allow himself to stay down for long. He was the type of guy to just walk up to anybody and say, ?Hi, I am Mike Walker.? The first time I met him, I was sitting down to lunch with my friend, Andrew. We were not there long when another guy sat down. He immediately looked at me and said, ?Hi, I am Mike Walker.? I was so surprised by his welcoming smile that I was left speechless. After a slight nudge from Andrew, I responded with my name and was greeted by yet another charming smile. It was not long before I realized I had sat down to lunch with the golf team. They were all talking and goofing off while I quietly ate my lunch. When I looked up, Mike was staring at me. He looked right at me, as if he were reading my mind. He looked around the table before saying, ?All right guys, subject change. What do you want to talk about, Stacy I never got the chance to answer because lunch was over. As we left the cafeteria Mike turned to me and said, ? Don't worry we will talk about what you want next time.? With a smile on his face (as well as mine), he was gone. From then on Mike and I had a friendship. We talked in the halls and after school. Mike was a great person and could always make me happy. One day I was talking to Mike before school let out. We were laughing and joking as usual. He told me he was going to be around after school and to find him later. So, I went happily to band practice. The next thing I knew, my teacher was telling us practice was cancelled. So I got up ready to find Mike. When I walked out of the school, I saw nothing but people and an ambulance. It was so quiet; I never thought there could be so many people in one place and not a single sound. I could not hear anyone move, cough, or even breathe. It was as if the world was holding its breath. I started walking and asking people what was going on. At first they said someone had hit their head, but they were ok. The farther down the hill I got, the more the story changed. They said it was Mike who fell off his four-wheeler and hit his head. I started walking faster and faster in a panic to see Mike. Someone then suddenly stopped me. It took me a minute to realize it was my best friend Mat. I knew as so on as I saw him Mike was dead. His eyes said it all. I stayed a little while staring at the ambulance hoping that maybe Mike would get up and the ambulance would drive away. But it did not happen. That night I cried so hard. I could not sleep due to the tragic sight I had just seen. I had awful mental pictures in my mind. I called Mat for comfort. I was so upset that words just flew out of my mouth. I said, ? Why did I even have to know Mike. This would be easy if I had not ever met him.? Mat put me on hold and when he came back a song was playing. It was Garth Brooks ?The Dance.? I never really listened to the message of the song. It is about the dance of life. It says that he wished he could have missed the