So a couple weeks ago I saw on my sister's AIM profile that she had a link to one of her friends' journals. I checked it out, it was a kid from our hometown that was friends with my sister.

He got in a super bad car accident on Dec 30th and has been mostly unconscious in the hospital until about 3 days ago. I read the entire Journal which his family has been upkeeping and felt like a part of it. After all, any friend of a friend is a friend of mine. (crap, that sounds so much more cheesey than I want it to... but anyway, I felt I should help if I could).

I won't do the amount of pain that he and his family have gone through any justice, but.... Grahm's got a heavily fractured hip, has had some surgeries, has been on breathing/feeding tubes, wound vacs, tons of meds, etc. You name it, he's probably had to deal with it. He's still got a long long fight ahead of him, but he's definitely making progress. Imagine having to learn how to breathe, use your vocal cords, and even eat again, all that plus several more surgeries and procedures to get him back to normal. Insanity. So needless to say, I've been checking the journal a few times a day just to see how he's doing.

Yesterday his mom, Angie, posted this on the Journal:

"Here's a shout out to all Grahm's Peeps:
I need your help! Our family is all about music. If we are not humming, playing or singing, we are listening to music!! I am working on a playlist for Grahm. Think 'Overcoming obstacles' or (pardon me Chaplin's) 'Kickin Ass' Absolutely NO sappy love songs, this is inspirational/motivational only.

Being the total Rocker Chick that I am, I will take your word that any country music requests are appropriate since it makes me cringe to listen to it. (Sorry!) However, I'm anxious to see what kind of tunes you can come up with. Send me an email with the song title and artist when you come up with one! Thanks for the help guys! Angie"

I read that and lights immediately went off... err.. on? Anyway, I thought, "I'm all about music! I rock out!" So I immediately went out on a limb, found a few songs that were motivational for ME and sent them to her. I sent Kanye West - Jesus Walks, Pennywise - Bro Hymn, Lyrics Borm - I'm Just Raw, Queens of the Stone Age - Go With the Flow/You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire, etc.

So this morning I got an email from her that said, "WOW Derek! You are SO on the right track as far as music goes! I personally LOVE Queens of the Stone Age. Grahm likes anything from Rap to Heavy Metal. We share some of the same CD's. When he's on leave I always raid his CD collection and burn, baby, burn! Some of his and my favorites are Emineim, Nickelback, P.O.D., Puddle of Mud, Seether has a new CD out that sounds great."

w00t! I totally helped. That made me feel pretty awesome, plus she asked me for more and even put this on the web site:

"Thanks to everyone who emailed me track selections, keep them coming! My email is ARGeigle@aol.com. Grahms musical taste ranges from Rap to Heavy Metal and everything in between (P.O.D., Linkin Park).

To Derek Brooks, I know now why you found your way here reading this journal. Your music selections are SO on track. We may have to submit the play list to Itunes for purchase! Thank you so much! You Rock!"

I immediately went out to find more songs and sent her about 50 more suggestions. So yeah, I'm totally on a "feel good" high right now. I hope the music helps them. It always does for me. If I ever get hurt, someone contact Angie Geigle and have her make me some CDs.

If you'd like to check out Grahm's site, it's here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/geigle/
This family is amazing, seriously. Keep them in your thoughts/prayers.

3:13 pm