A year ago my younger cousin passed away. He was my best friend. My daily. My go-to for everything. Stocks, crypto, fantasy football, Xbox Live (Red Dead mostly), fitness, religion, politics, family, and everything else in between. Nothing we couldn’t talk about. Even on topics we didn’t agree, he was that rare person who could talk about things without it becoming emotional. He was a light in everyone’s life that I’ve talked with who knew him. A bridge between family members who were in conflict. A loving, caring, open young man, taken too soon at 28. I miss you every day, cousin.
My background is in counseling and I’ve relied heavily on skills that I’ve taught others over the years, but was still unprepared for the grief I’ve experienced over the course of this year. I no longer provide counseling, but those skills have been exceptionally useful. The pain was overwhelming and constant initially. Now it comes in waves. I can remember things fondly some days and other times, like today, I can barely hold myself together. I know grief is process, and that helps me through the harder days.
I created this workout in his memory, in typical CrossFit fashion. We honor those we lose and keep their memory alive by creating workouts to do annually. I did this workout last year, then again on his birthday in September, and today on the anniversary of his passing. I call it “NASMAQ” which was a nickname I gave him based on all of our stock talks over the years.
RIP Cuz 🙏🏽
