Monet's friend Cole passed away in a bridge jumping accident on July 7th.
The month before he died, Cole came to Lake Powell with our family and the Atkins. Jared and Jimmy just couldn't say enough about how much they loved having Cole there. He was such an incredible kid. So chill, fun, helpful, and just a really great kid. There aren't many 16 year old boys who anticipate ways to help and are so focused on that. If I pulled the sack out of the trash he was right behind me and offering to take it out to the big marina trash. He tied up the boat and clipped everthing in everytime we pulled in. He was just super helpful without even being asked. He was so funny and has a great sense of humor.
I drove the Jeep to Lake Powell with the teenagers and got to talk to Cole for about 7 full hours on the way down. Monet was in the back seat working on business cards and so Cole and I got a great visit! He told me some funny stories.
Monet and Cole have been friends since 5th grade. They had the same ALL class for two years.
Monet admired Cole and how he was super smart, athletic and had such high standards. He's just a super good kid. Great skier, football player, swimmer, hiker, and could seemingly do anything. He had an old red jeep Betsy that needed a lot of repairs. He fixed Betsy himself, which is pretty impressive.
Cole's mom Carla is one of my hiking buddies. She is the one who was always texting me "Are you coming today?" Its funny how that little text is all I needed to make it happen even when it was hard to figure out with Soren in preschool, etc. I love Carla. She is one of the most active and social people I know. So fun to talk to.
A few days before Coles accident we floated the Provo River with Cole and his mom and siblings. It was so much fun! Cole was helping everyone out of the water and making sure that everyone was safe. That's just how he does things.
On July 7th at like 2am Monet, Cole, Taylor and a group of friends hiked Timp. They hiked to the saddle and watched the sunrise. Monet said that Cole had this huge pack and one of the boys was teasing him and said, "what do you have in there, a tent?" because it was way bigger than a normal backpack. When they got to the saddle everyone was freezing and super tired. Cole whips out a huge hydroflask of hot cocoa and bagels and cream cheese to share with everyone. Monet says that anyone who didn't know him very well fell in love with him right there. What a good guy!
They got home from Timp and Monet had to go to work and was soooo tired. Later that evening he asked Monet to hang out but she was so tired from not sleeping the night before and went to bed early.
That whole day I was super sick from vertigo and spent the day over the toilet or trying to keep my head still in bed. I was sad I didn't get to hear about Timp from Monet when she got home but I hadn't had the ability to go down to her room to talk to her.
So Sunday morning when I was feeling better I went down to her room and she told me all about it and showed me the photos from Timp. So it was pretty shocking and devastating when just a minute later after I looked at my phone I found out that Cole had passed away the previous night.
I couldn't breathe. I was so shocked, sad, and just devastated. I called out to Jared and we went to Monet's room, which was locked. She just said, "I already know" and was crying. It was a pretty awful time for all of us. So surreal, so tortuous, and sad. But Monet was a close friend and it was even harder for her.
I think she coped by staying busy. She and her friends were together constantly because being alone was hard. They planned to hike Timp the following Thursday in memory of Cole. They brought bagels and hot cocoa for everyone and invited everyone. It was amazing how many kids showed up to hike in honor of Cole. It is a very challenging hike. And there were 50 kids there. Monet gathered wildflowers on the way down the mountain and decorated Cole's Jeep with them at the funeral. She gathered photos and videos from the friends and printed them for his car.
Kali Atkin made the coolest video from our Lake Powell trip and there was some awesome footage of Cole that his family really loved seeing.
Fortunately we had puppies in June! So brand new puppies were actually a godsend. A lot of sad teenagers got to cuddle those cute puppies and its definitely therapeutic to have a bunch of puppies around. So we pretty much sat and watched the puppies all month.
Carla was so sweet to give all of the kids something that belonged to Cole. Monet got the t-shirt that he wore in Lake Powell. She was so happy to have something of his. She wore it the first day of school this year.
A few lessons we've learned from this:
1. Live life to the fullest! It was neat to see all the fun things that Cole got to do in his life.
2. Those little acts of kindness make a big difference in peoples lives--Cole will be remembered for his service. Helping out so much in Lake Powell, on the river, and bringing treats up Timp, all just part of who Cole is.
3. Grief is sooo hard but its easier if you have friends! Keep up with your friendships and lean on each other when you need to.
4. There is peace in Christ! The gospel is what gets us through these kinds of things with the perspective we need to carry on and have hope.
