AWanderingSorcererI was rereading #TheLaramieProject, about the murder of #MatthewShepard, and every time I go through it, there's a certain part of Dennis Shepard's speech that always gets to me:
"Matt officially died in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. He actually died on the outskirts of Laramie, tied to a fence. You Mr. McKinney with your friend Mr. Henderson left him out there by himself, but he wasn't alone. There were his lifelong friends with him, friends that he had grown up with. You're probably wondering who these friends were. First he had the beautiful night sky and the same stars and moon that we used to see through a telescope. Then he had the daylight and the sun to shine on him. And through it all he was breathing in the scent of pine trees from the snowy range."
"He heard the wind, the ever-presence Wyoming wind, for the last time. He had one more friend with him, he had God. And I feel better knowing he wasn't alone."
This October will mark 25 years since Mathew Shepard died on that Laramie fence. I'll be 6 years older than he ever got to be. Some days seem tough for us, moreso recently, but we'll make it. Not only because it's the only choice we have, but because we're never alone. Even in our darkest days, there's always someone, something with us, ready to give us its love.