JC Meardon Foundation

#win4weasel

It was just a normal summer night for most of us. I was downtown playing Pokemon GO when my phone was on the verge of crashing after the endless “Did you hear about JC?” texts in every group chat.

I do not know the full story of what happened, but as soon as I heard a long-time best friend of mine was in critical condition at the University of Iowa hospitals, I immediately rushed over to the hospital.

After being greeted and hugged by the countless amount of students and parents from both City and West, I could see the heartbreak in everyone’s eyes. We were there from the very second everything happened to around 9 p.m. when the hospital staff started sending people home.

Suddenly, as I checked Twitter, my feed began to blow up with an overwhelming amount of “Rest in Peace” tweets with pictures of JC attached below.

At that moment, the cliche “you never know what you have until it’s gone” proved to be true. Throughout all the tears and hugs, I knew this event would not only impact my life forever, but our whole community’s.

Fast forward two months. From small and simple things such as kindness and love, to bigger movements like the JC Meardon Soccer Foundation, the impact JC had on our lives is still present.

Though the passing of a close friend is not something to be celebrated, our community moved on from mourning to a much more loving, caring community who celebrates JC’s life.

I have learned to put two things to perspective: appreciate the small things in life and, more importantly, never forget how much our lives have changed before and after JC’s death.

Rest in peace to a captain, a friend, and a brother.