Find the time…
Somehow we never seem to find the time…
Who Was Donald Parker?
Donnie was someone I served with in the 229th Military Police Company for close to six years. We were in the same platoon (3rd platoon) and we ended up being pretty good buddies…especially in Iraq.
We both shared a love of sharp sarcasm and four man spades. We also, though at different times, served on the Internal Reaction (riot control, quick response) force in Camp Ganci.
Post-Iraq
After our Iraq deployment, I ended up transferring out of the 229th MP Company in VA Beach to another location; Donnie and I lost touch…as tends to happen when regular routines that once brought two folks together cease to exist.
I served my time and left the Army all together a year later. Then I got married, etc… and pretty much forgot about most of my battle buddies.
Enter Facebook
In June of 2010, Donnie joined Facebook; he became my friend and we reconnected. As you can see by the picture above, he sent me a message asking me to call him. Somehow I never got around to doing so…I will regret this for a very long time.
We had a few chats via instant messaging, but they were not as palpable as hearing an old friend’s voice would have been. I informed him of my decision to become a Chaplain and he told me he was excited to be fully retired from the Army in 2011.
As Forest Gump once said (and I am paraphrasing here)…had I known it was the last time I was going to talk to Donnie…I would have thought of something better to say.
A Joke?
This morning, about an hour ago (1am Central) I fired up the interwebs. I noticed something that said “Read My Obituary” and it had Donnie’s name on it. I thought it was maybe Donnie pulling another fast one on us by writing his own obit as a prank.
I was confused and expecting some sort of faux obit involving midgets and Doritos. I was literally shocked to find out this was no joke…Donnie was dead.
I know this post lacks my normal writing skills (however poor they may be) but I started writing this 10 minutes after I found out about Donnie’s passing…I still can’t believe he is gone.
In Conclusion
Time is short…and we grow closer to death with each passing exhale. Donnie was 31 years old, just four years older than me, when he died. You never know when someone’s time is up.
Make the time to show love…always. I miss Donnie…even though we hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in quite awhile…I still felt a sharp pang of sadness and regret the minute I found out he had passed.
His obituary can be found here.
Donnie’s favorite thing to say (in fact he commented on my wall, just three days before he died, this very phrase) is what I am going to end this post with, because Donnie and I always loved a good laugh…
“It’s naked time”
