Category: heartbreak

Unfortunate Shock and Awe

Matthew Heick Leave a comment

Ahh, Fall. 22 of September, 2021. I was supposed to have court today but lawyers felt like it could be delayed another 3 months.

The first day of fall started off as any odd day would. Molly and I decided to take the newly minted 3-year-old to the Strong Museum of Play, eat some food and then come back to Buffalo. We jumped on the 490 in Rochester, sailed west to hook up with the Interstate 90, and then cruised at the normal pace. Due to the gas tank being a bit low we decided to turn into the reservation at Pembroke and fill up.

Travelling northbound into Indian Falls Molly noticed a tan pickup truck on the right side of the road, and I had noticed a huge white semi truck in the field and what appeared to be a mess/entanglement of a vehicle below the rear of the truck. We did not realize what we were driving by, and we thought it odd for such a situation to exist. Obviously there were not emergency vehicles around, no sirens or lights, and we were both questioning what we thought we saw, arguing over the existence of the semi truck/pick up truck. Regardless, we drove the next 4 miles off to the reservation, got some gas, and then departed.

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9-11-2021 – 20 Years Later

Matthew Heick Leave a comment

There is going to be millions of stories that reflect back 20 years ago to the day that “America was attacked” and “Where we were”. This is one of those million stories, and coming across this story would be a 1 in a million chance.

I was almost 20 years old and waking up in a bed at 563 E. 2nd Street in Jamestown in an upstairs apartment. I had just had an amazing night with my 17 year old girlfriend, woke up, moseyed my way out of the bedroom to sit on her 23-year old brothers couch and prepared for the morning.

My usual poison in the morning was Mountain Dew, Marlboro or a Newport, and “Wake Up” on Headline News. After grabbing my 2-liter and lighting up I turned on the television. The news was on fire, reporting on something hitting the World Trade Center. Fire was plentiful but reports were scarce.

At 8:46am American Airlines Flight 11 hit the World Trade Center between floors 93 and 99. The news was scrambling to make sense and stating it was some tragic small aircraft. The World Trade Center was on fire and that’s pretty much what news cameras were focused on.

At 9:03am I witness it on the news. Flight 175 hits South Tower.

Where was I? Sitting on a couch, smoking a cigarette and drinking Mountain Dew watching a skyscraper get hit by an Airplane live on television.

That was my 9/11/2001

And so I don’t forget a classic saying: There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.

Thanks to timeline.911memorial.org to help me get my facts straight

The Hunt for a 25 Year Old Video

Matthew Heick Leave a comment

After getting my hands on a 1996 Sweet Home High School yearbook (courtesy of EBay seller quasimodo) I was able to get some names and start my journey to finding a 1996 Band Trip Video for the Disney Magic Music Days.

If memory serves me correctly the original Guidance Counselor that filmed this trip was John Daken:

High School Yearbook / Staff

I’ve also got the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band, a plethora of names of people to track down and figure out if they have a some copy of the original video.

So, my first goal is to get all these names into a Google Spreadsheet and scan social media and old address books and track everyone down.

Bon voyage à moi!

The Hunt for a 20 Year Old Video [6 Years Ago…]

Matthew Heick Leave a comment

Editors note: I wrote this back on 7 February 2015

The 1995-1996 school year I was a freshman at Sweet Home High School[a] and had participated in a trip to Walt Disney World to participate in a Band Performance with my peers (Disney Magic Music Days). This entire event, from the loading of the busses to the trip from Buffalo, New York to our destination and back had been recorded on an 8-hour EP video tape.

I had originally possessed this specific video tape as a teenager. Over the course of time, however, I had lost this amazing heirloom as I’m sure a lot of other have. I’m sure that there is a copy of this somewhere that I can acquire so I can digitize it and be able to enjoy it though the future times.

This iswas my tiny blog on my progress in locating this by working back 20 years in my brain.

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Rylunn Lloyd Charles Thompson, b.16/Jan/2003, d.1/Mar/2021

Matthew Heick Leave a comment

Rylunn Lloyd Charles Thompson “Ry”, 18, of Jamestown, New York passed away unexpectedly on March 1, 2021. He was born on January 16th, 2003 the son of Michael and Lindsey Thompson in Jamestown, New York.

Rylunn was a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan. He ran track, enjoyed skate boarding, wrestling and was an excellent swimmer and diver. Rylunn adored his sisters and was the best big brother we could’ve asked for. He will forever be their guardian angel.

Rylunn survived by His mother, Lindsey Thompson of Erie Pennsylvania, his father, Michael Thompson of Jamestown, New York, his two sisters, Kiela Rayne and Jade Willow both of Jamestown, New York, his grandma Mary Shaffer and his nana Mary Lou Rodgers both of Jamestown, New York, his paternal grandmother, Debra Everson of Batavia, New York, His aunts and uncles, Peter Nalbone of Jamestown, New York, Jennifer Cejka of Amherst, New York, Shane Thompson of Erie Pennsylvania, Marcy Fanale and Cindy Rodgers, both of Jamestown, New York and Charles Rodgers III of Washington State. He also survived by many great aunts, great uncles, cousins, friends and his lifelong baby-sitter and friend, Nancy McCool.

He was preceded in death by his maternal grandfather Charles Rodgers Jr., his paternal grandfather Donald Thompson and his papa Grant Everson.

Arrangements entrusted to Hubert Funeral Home.

Source: https://hubertfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/1249/Rylunn-Thompson/obituary.html