WOW! 19 years ago tomorrow.............................

I lost my first love. It may sound silly that after all these years, the memories are still very vivid. Growning up, my parents had a very close knit group of christian friends, each had several children around the same age. I guess when I think about it, there must have been about 25 of us all within 5 years of one another. Alot of them were cousins...........but *I* was not related to any of them. Each summer we would gather in Corvallis Oregon for a bible conference, we would camp, attend services, and run around the woods just having a great time. That summer, alot of the teenaged boys preached. His name was Paul Michael Treacy. His parents were catholic before they got saved........lol. Good catholic name, huh. Anyway, we had grown up together, but as we were growning and maturing that summer, there were crushes. He was going to marry me and we would live happily ever after. He was about to be a senior in high school and I was going to be a freshman. We had a wonderful time together that summer, I vividly remeber saying goodbye (gigantic bear hugs from the chunky guy) that Saturday afternoon in July. I was angry because unlike my brother, I didn't get to stay in Oregon a week longer, *I* had a job (cleaning a beauty salon once a week) and I had 4-H.

We began to exchange letters, school started, etc. It was a Friday, I was a cheerleader going to a football game in Nyssa Oregon with my friend Dani who had moved away that summer. When I stepped off the bus when we returned from the game, my parents were there to tell me "Paul Michael was killed in an auto accident today on the way home from school". My heart had such an empty void for a long, long time. I remember just begging the Lord to take me home too or to just come for all of us. Paul Michael was special to me, for a long while, I wondered "what if". I have a wonderful family and life now but you never forget your first love. I know Paul Michael is in heaven with all my loved one's and someday I'll know why the Lord took someone's friend, son, and brother. All my loves goes out to the Treacy Family on this the 19th Anniversary of PMT's homegoing.