KAYLEE

Kaylee was the first friend I made in high school. We had Coach Mattison’s freshman biology together. We didn’t know each other, but we happened to share the same discomfort of not knowing a lot of people in the class. Both of us walked in leisurely and sat as close to the door as possible. I super glued my eyes to my phone and tried not to look or talk to anyone, but Kaylee did not. In the first 3 minutes of us sitting there, she turned her body towards me and said, “So, do you want to be my partner for the semester.” I said, “Wait we’re we suppose to partner up?” and Kaylee said to me, “No, I just want my partner to be sitting next to me, so I don’t have to get up.” I laughed but then realized how smart of an idea that was, so we became partners.

Quickly, Kaylee and I became really good friends and we hung out all the time. We went on countless racetrac trips, dunkin runs, and on the rare occasion we went to striplings. One day, Kaylee and I were at dunkin donuts after school, and one of her friends from Oconee dropped in to say hey. Her name was Nicole and she was this super skinny girl with a firecracker personality. Nicole and I grew to become close friends as well, and we became a little trio. The three of us always went to La Parrilla for dinner, and Kaylee would always want a large iced coffee from dunkin after (which I thought was really gross for some reason.)

I was never the cheerleader type, that is just not the athlete God designed me to be. However, that is the person Kaylee and Nicole wanted to push me to be and let me tell you I hated every second of it. Nicole would always tell me I was doing good, even when I did the worst I possibly could’ve done and while Nicole was telling me this, Kaylee would be on the floor crying laughing at me for five minutes. Kaylee taught me how to laugh and make fun of myself. She taught me to care about who you actually are rather than who people think you are. She had the most contagious laugh, and the best part was, she would laugh at almost anything. Sometimes we wouldn’t be talking at all and she would just start laughing for no reason. I would ask her what she was laughing at and she would jokingly yell, “I DON’T KNOW, BUT I CAN’T STOP.” Kaylee holds such a special spot in my heart, and she always has. She means so much to me, and she has helped shape me into the person that I am today.

Chuck Palahniuk once wrote, “We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” What a special girl. She left her imprint on my heart the way you leave fingerprints on a door. She meant the world to me, and the crazy thing is, I think she meant the world to a lot of people in this world. She didn’t create something physical, but she helped create friendships, and memories that will last until the Lord calls us home too. Our community has been through a lot this summer, it’s difficult to even fathom, but one thing I know is that we are in this together and we will get through this together too.

Psalm 147:3