So I got awoke. It’s now after 7am, 1 week to the day & almost time Nate went missing. Just been so upset about it. I couldn’t even look at the newspaper yesterday where it had the story of him being found passed away & his obituary. It was so surreal. I couldn’t look at the paper til late last nite then by doing that couldn’t sleep too well. Still can’t get over this happened. Just feel so bad for the family & his wife. For his wife to find the one & get married & have a life with her husband, stepdad to her kids, then have this happen, would just be unbearable! What I never knew til now was that my brother knew his parents & especially his mom’s side of the Family especially his one uncle. I never knew it. My brother everytime I would say something each day already would know the news before me. I don’t have Facebook, probably the only one in the world that doesn’t but I have Insta & Twitter. How I even found out about Nate was when I was in line at Sheetz Tuesday nite & almost didn’t go that nite, was in line & looked back at the newspaper stand, saw someone was missing in the headline & a pic, so went over to see who it was, picked the paper up & about died that it was Nate. My anxiety took off, got back in line & could barely focus or get the stuff I had & to pay. I tried to act normal but the worker waiting on me had no idea that I just got the shock of my life a second before. So went out to pump the gas & was glad to get outta the store & started reading what was going on. The whole drive home I just couldn’t believe he was missing. Got in the driveway & put the vehicle in park & started praying & praying. I had a gut feeling he was already gone but would never give up hope til it was actually found out. Everytime someone I know passes away, I ask my Dad to watch over & take care of them til the rest of us get there. My Dad knew Nate. I had lots of friends over the yrs come & hangout.
Nate’s obituary explained so well exactly who & how he was. I mean exactly!! The random stuff he would say that could get u on the ground laughing is how I will always exactly remember him! He was a hilarious person, I mean hilarious! He always had a great smile. I really never saw him not laughing or smiling to be honest. Then there was his long eyelashes. I couldn’t get over that. I told the one person on here that I always envied him for that cause I have to pay to get mine done & that long. He always laughed when I would see him & say that. All so many happy memories of him. That makes it all the more sad. Hit me last nite that we will never see or run into him again to catch up on life. That’s really bad when u realize that. Can’t imagine the realization for his family. It would be too much.
Again about what happened to him, I really hope they are doing a good thorough investigation! Deff looking into the 2 that were w him. It still really doesn’t sit well w me & all u too. For his family & all that knee & loved him, we need to know what exactly happened. Not that it will bring him back but it’s a pretty big deal between being a accident or something happening at the hands of another. If it’s a accident, then I guess okay u know it was just that & these rivers are dangerous, when they look like they wouldn’t be too bad, people that know how to swim like Michael Phelps can still have a accident & I’ve looked up that river & there are some accidents & drownings. A boy was just found I believe the weekend before, even his case sounds alittle weird to me but they ruled it I think a suicide. If it was accidental, u can kinda maybe deal & live with it alittle better than something that someone else did, especially a so called friend to Nate. If that happened, then it really needs to be found out what happened & people held accountable & prosecuted & as much justice as u can get. It would be such a betrayal cause he was w so called friends if that took place. Whatever the case is, really hope & pray there are answers.
We have a family friend who worked for my Dad & his brother drowned up in Tionesta, PA & they didn’t find him until the spring thaw the next yr & he was found in Pittsburgh, he was in his 20-30’s. It was real bad cause they didn’t find him for so long & it happened in front of his brother, our family friend.
Then my boyfriend who was born & raised in Johnstown, lost his uncle, his Dad’s youngest sibling, to drowning in the river in Johnstown, the Connemaugh River (probably didn’t spell that right). I believe he had been drinking & couldn’t get up outta the river. The place I was shown, there is no way of getting out cause of the way the wall is on the sides of the river, right at that exact place & he didn’t know how to swim. His family has never gotten over that & can barely talk about it. The family friend that it was his brother who drown in front of him, is still to this day so traumatized over it.
For Nate’s Family, they would be going over when the last time they saw him was & what was the last conversation & words. Praying so hard for Nate’s Family & I know Jesus has his arms out to hug & comfort all of them & to get them all thru each & everyday. When u lose somebody at first, no matter what it is to, ur in shock, have to let all family know, then u have to pull urself together enough to get things arranged & figured out about writing a obituary, if they are going to be cremated or buried, where the ashes will go or where they will be buried at, buy a plot if u don’t have one, buy a ern or casket, pick out a plaque or stone, what to have on it if being buried, what cemetery, what funeral home, set up the viewing room w pics or videos of them sometimes, plan the day/days & time/times for the viewing/viewings, the clothes they will need, ur clothes u will wear, anything u want to put with them (a favorite thing or something), a private family viewing, a public or private funeral service, who’s going to be the preacher, is some family going to get up & speak, will there be music, going to the cemetery to bury the ashes, or scatter the ashes, or bury them, maybe have a dinner afterwards. Look & get all the flowers & things people have bought & sent, get the guest book & all stuff funeral related, send thank u cards later down the road, on & on. Been thru the funeral for my Dad & had to be in charge of a lot of it. Ur so busy doing everything u can think of for that person to give them the best funeral you can, cause that’s the last big thing you can do for them. U want it to be what they would want, wish for & be perfect. Ur soooo busy getting & going thru all of that but at the same time going thru the loss & the heartbreak & at the viewing having to talk about the person & probably every time u do, especially at first & for yrs to come, makes u cry & so sad. Even tho it’s sad to talk about them, sometimes it’s what u need & want to do cause it helps u keep them alive & not forgotten & brings up good memories to get u thru that day & then there are days u just can’t talk about anything. When all the funeral hoopla is over, u are then left as everybody else goes on w life & there u are. That’s when it’s real bad & becomes real. It was for me. There was as they call it, a new normal that I had to start living & I didn’t do too well with it at first. If someone would say something like sorry to hear that, his name, or just anything, I would cry right on the spot. Couldn’t even help it. Everywhere I looked at my Mom’s & his buildings & assets I saw him. I was a Daddy’s Girl to the core.
What I hate about after the funeral & stuff like that is over, like I already said, there u are & u have to somehow pick urself up from the loss & sadness. The world doesn’t stop no matter what u have just been thru, u have to still pay bills, they didn’t stop because of this & just on & on with the responsibilities & life u already had. I went right into busy busy busy mode. Didn’t take the time to go thru the steps of grieving. As much as it hurts, u need to do that. I never have cause I was to scared I wouldn’t get out of the process, still too afraid. I hope his family does just take their own time to process everything, at their own pace. This loss was a shock, never saw this happening or had a clue. One minute here, next gone. To deal with that kind of loss I think is the worst. I cannot imagine as a Mother & Father what they must be going thru to lose a Son. He would still be their Baby & Child, no matter if he is 38. Ur not suppose to lose ur Baby. That’s not how the line in a family is supposed to go. What hell they have been thru with finding out he’s missing, trying to find him, having to hear & go by the 2 friends story, stuff not adding up, then he’s found passed away. Unbelievable!
My heart is just completely broke for his Family & for Nate himself. Soooo many prayers are going their way.
P.s. On Wednesday afternoon about 3pm, my brother had called me & told me he was at my mom’s cause we were in Altoona & said he had just bought a boat & put it in my Dad’s one building & he & his gf would just go to my moms & wait there til we got home to visit & we would all go out to eat. He lives w his gf in Indiana. He had just beat Stage 3 colon cancer in March. It’s the exact cancer my Dad had & the tumor was in the same place only my brother fortunely was stage 3, my Dad was stage 4, but it was like here we go again when we found out about my Brother. He got taken care of right away & to the best oncologist & best cancer center & the chemo so far worked. He just had a scan Monday & was told Thursday it’s still gone. Every 3 months he’s got to get a scan, so we don’t see him that much, but he all the sudden buys a boat outta nowhere. First thing outta my mouth was we really need to take it down to where Nate was seen in the Alleghney River. He said ya, whatever u want to do. By the time I got home & we went & ate, the news Nate was found started to be everywhere. My heart just sank it ended this way, with so many of us praying & being so hopeful.
I went to Sheetz that nite, when I was coming out the first door, there on the bulletin board was Nate’s missing flyer. It was just surreal & I went to my vehicle & just bawled.
