Kill 'Em All - Metallica

Nope, not a mini-essay on our approach to fighting terrorism, or protecting our country.

I was awoken at 5am yesterday morning by the voice of my mother (her and Dad live with us, a rare extended family in suburbia) who said "It's Eric....he died". My nephew, only in his early 30's, had been killed in a horrendous motorcycle accident.

Me & Eric spent a lot of time together when he was a kid. One of the things we had in common was music...especially the heavy variety. We would often swap tapes. Some of the stuff he lent me was kinda cool (Flotsam & Jetsam), some not (Cannibal Corpse). But, hey, we were having fun.

So yesterday I just had to go to work. Didn't want to but it was unavoidable. So I picked something for the drive, and that was Metallica's Kill 'Em All.

It was maybe the only time in my life that heavy metal music made me cry.

Today my thoughts are with his mom, his girlfriend, but mostly his little kids.

It was a bright, sunny day...exactly like two years ago.

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)