Dear Joe Quartini

While I was in Hawaii, I found out a friend of mine, who I had met during my Team in Training days in 2007 had passed away from a surfing accident while on his honeymoon in Nicaragua. I was heart broken. At 31 years old, the thought of never seeing him again or hearing his voice never crossed my mind. I was bummed that I would miss his memorial and so had my own goodbye moment with Joe in Hawaii while the sun was setting Saturday evening. As the sun was setting I was also asking the universe... what. the. hell? Why take a good guy when there are so many bad ones out there doing bad things? I was on the phone with a friend and he said something that run so true. Life isn’t too short, it’s how you live it while you’re still here. I couldn’t agree more.  

A little about Joe... He loved to surf! He used to tell me about his last minute surfing trips to Costa Rica, his New Zealand adventures among others. He was excited about life! He is one of the most genuine, caring and down to earth guys you’d ever meet with old school Italian chivalry. My favorite memories of him started flashing before me.  Our camping trip at Big Sur… how he wanted to be the protective guy friend and have a moment with the guy who I was dating and wasn’t treating me so well at the time. The way he’d say, “That’s bulls*t” whenever we share guy/girl dating stories. How much fun we had ringing in the New Year with our friend Mary and his friend Ben in Tahoe drinking champagne and watching Tila Tequila. He was a friend who I can always have fun with whether it was being his date to his company christmas party or just an afternoon coffee break. 

Joe, wherever you are, I know your smile is still bright and the ocean waves are still big.