Last year when I was at SouthTube2, I had a piercing sadness all of a sudden and thoughts about Sam that I couldn't explain. I almost called Scott to talk to him about it. I didn't know why I would have thought of Sam just out of the blue like that when I was in the midst of all this fun with everyone. I couldn't shake it for at least an hour. My heart knew that it was Sam's birthday (my head would later realize it when I got home to talk to Scott about it). He would have been 34 years old, had he lived.
Samson Alesana Escobar was Scott's best friend. They were friends since he was around eight, I believe. I always took Scott and Sam out to see a movie on Sam's birthday. His favorite action hero always had a movie that came out right around that time. He was always a good kid. Scott & Sam even attended the same university and while their majors took a different turn (he did auto body & auto mechanics), they still graduated from high school as well as college on the same day. I have proud mama pictures of the two of them accepting their diplomas from the dean. Yes, I did push my way to the front of the crowd. Boy howdy, I sure did.
Sam later went on to change his career. He became a police officer. And again, I was at that graduation, pushing people aside so I could get pictures of him in his spiffy uniform, hat and badge. His sister Rina and I stood shoulder to shoulder speaking about how proud we were of "our boys" and how they were such "good boys."
Sam had a lump around his neck and didn't have it checked for a while. One day Scott said, "Beth, Sam has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma." I nearly pee'd my pants in fear. I couldn't google it fast enough. I had lost one of my best friends (Lisa) to Hodgkin's disease. After a long and brilliant battle, one I thought Sam had conquered, he became weakened about six months after he went to California for a stem cell transplant. He was hospitalized 3x within a span of months and I prayed harder than I have ever prayed. Scott called me on December 29, 2006, to say Sam had lost his fight. I have never missed someone so much. I still cry when I think of him, I'm crying now. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he was so young and had so much more to do in life. He hadn't yet served his purpose. That is my story of Sam, in a nutshell.