40 til 40 May 7, 2012 "Steve Karsten"

"Steve Karsten"

I have been blessed to call so many people my friend. Sometimes that becomes a catch-22 when those people pass. It is inevitable. . . We are all going to die. I have lost a number of friends for one reason or another, and none of those have been easy to accept. The majority of those though have been by way of suicide. I do not condone suicide. Life is too short.

I miss the friends that took their own life. I wonder what might have been or what demons could've been so bad. In the end, though they had a choice. It was theirs, and I think they made the wrong one.

I have lost a couple other friends through no fault of their own. In each of their lives, they have helped save mine. Next week we will talk about the other, but today is Steve Karsten day.

I got to know Steve when I was a sophomore in high school. He was friends with Chris Crawford who called him "BA", short for Bubba. Over the years we had disagreements. He was a Michigan man. he liked all detroit sports when it came to Pros. He was an Iowa fan though so we were able to find common ground. To know Ba, was to love him. Whether it was going fishing, or watching a game or shooting pool. . . he did it with a smile and a sarcastic sense of humor and with Muscular Dystrophy.

Steve didn't choose to let it take him, He fought through. He outlived Doctors estimates and still had tons of fun along the way.  I have a hard time summoning all the words to describe this guy. I will just say that I live daily for his memory. Not a day goes by when I do not think of him. I know  there is a bunch of us who are the same way. He may physically gone, but he is looking over us.

Gone too soon. I wish those people who are about to pull a trigger, would take one more breath and think of Steve, who I know would love to be back shooting pool, playing poker, or sharing a 12er during a Hawkeye game.