i was wondering why some people were posting
photos of you. none of them on facebook had a sad reaction, so i didn’t make
much of it until i saw allison’s post. i texted e to see if he knew anything
and he said you had passed. man it hit me. the first thing that came to mind
was our political discourse last year and how i’m glad it ended amicably.
politics is something people are passionate about, and i can’t fault anyone for
it as i feel the same. although we disagreed, i told you much love as i dm'ed
you my number and told you to hit me up. you never hit me up, but you laughed
and said you could go on all day. we never spoke again, but i believe there was
no bad blood between us. even when i wrote about our interactions that day, my opinion of
you never changed. we go back to holly ridge days. i don’t know how we became
friends, but if i remember correctly, it was 8th grade yearbook. i dropped out
of yearbook because i didn’t want to stay after school, but we kept in contact.
at the beginning of high school we shared a passion for sneakers. in fact,
there’d be times where we would let each other borrow sneakers because we wore
the same size. i can’t front, every time i see a pair of top tens, i
think of you. i was into jordans and kobes, but you put me on to adidas. for
some reason i always thought they only made sambas and superstars lol. although
we saw each other sporadically, whenever we’d see each other it was always a
dap met by how’s the family, how’s life, how’s the sneaker collection?? i’ll
never forget the day i found out about your accident. i was in first block
anatomy and physiology. you were involved with katie at the time, and she came
in the room with another girl (i forgot who) crying terribly. she announced
that you’d been in a freak accident and that if anybody could find a way to
help whether it be financially, emotionally, just any way to help, it’d be
appreciated. i was shocked, it was a reminder of how quickly life can turn. jog
for john was set up and the only thing i remember is ryan gillespie running up
to me with an ice cream sandwhich screaming “somebody get this man an ice
cream sandwhich!!!” while seeing me struggle to finish the 5k lmaooo. oh, and i also remember mr. hitesman literally killing it. i was surprised he was in such tremendous shape as he probably ran that 5k in less than 20 minutes. 12th grade came along and i applied to be a writer for the
hawk eye. luckily they accepted my application and we would spend 4th block
kicking shit, talking sneakers, women, and life. on deadline days, we’d
stay after for a few hours to finish the newest edition, and i remember telling
you how fun it was. you said that’s what yearbook was like in 8th grade, but i
skipped out lol. at the time, our missed yearbook experience was 4 years prior,
which seemed like an eternity. our newspaper experience now is 10 years ago, a
whole decade. to me, newspaper made up for the hangs we missed out on in
yearbook. much like before, after graduation our interactions have been
sporadic. we would talk on twitter here and there, but i always thought of you periodically.
there was a time last year when i was in concord mills with alexis walking by
forever 21. we saw a guy in a wheel chair hollering at his friends, smiling,
joking. we both thought it was dope how he was having fun, living life despite
the odds placed before him. it prompted me to tell her about you. i told her
how the whole school rallied around you, how we had the jog for john, and how
awesome of a person you were. i might’ve said you had the flyest kicks for a
white dude at holly springs high, but if i didn’t, i just said it on here lol.
back up to even a few months ago when i moved, i was in the kitchen with my mom
when she brought you up. she said she wonders how you were doing from time, as
her heart went out to you. when i told her what happened when it did, she felt
extremely sad because of how unfortunate it was. i guess it never left her. one
time when i tweeted last year how i wanted more out of life, you responded by saying
only i can turn my dreams into reality.
although i know you’re above the clouds shaking your head at my political opinions lol, i hope you’ll be proud the day i turn my dreams into reality.
rest easy my friend.
i find peace knowing you are still with us despite the lack of physical presence as i hope you find peace knowing we are still with you no matter where you may be.
-ratha, 10:03pm, 3.3.21