My heart breaks as I think of this tragedy—metal colliding with metal, metal meeting flesh, all too quickly consumed by flames. It feels so incredibly random. What a random time, and a random place and a random accident with whoever had the misfortune of being present. It could have been anyone…

I heard all were stable, all but two. In fact, two were lost. These are people I can proudly say I knew, truthfully not well enough to tell you their favorite color or how they liked their coffee, but I will tell you what I do know: I know they were too young. I know they were in love, and I know they were loved. I know it is incredibly unfair. I know Jonny was the boy who made everyone laugh and Alisa was the girl who made everyone smile. That I know. I know I feel conflicted. Two souls were just ripped from the earth and I'm supposed to keep living like something significant didn't just happen? I'm supposed to keep living as if this couldn't happen to you, or happen to me? It doesn't feel right. And what gives God the right? Why them and why then? I will never understand someone being, and then suddenly ceasing to. It just doesn't seem plausible, but somehow it is.

If you knew Jonny and Alisa, then you probably also know that far too many lives have been taken within the past year...but such tragic events are ones of movement. I believe that. Great losses cause everything to change. Everything will forever be different and to pretend this isn’t so doesn’t feel natural, so don't. Don't pretend. Suffer through the pain of confusion and misplacement and total emptiness because there is one thing you have not yet considered: our minds have forever been changed for the good. How we see the world shouldn’t be the same after the transition of ‘goodbye’ to people, to ‘hello’ to angels.

When I heard what had happened, I was in class, and I prayed right then and there. I thanked God. I thanked Him for Alisa and Jonny; I thanked Him for their time on earth. They had touched so many people. They lost their lives and forever changed my thoughts in a way that no living soul could have. With that in my mind, I thanked God for all of the Mondays, for I will no longer dread them. Every Monday we live, they were deprived of. I thanked God for all of the losses in my life, because without them, I know I wouldn’t be as half as appreciative as I am today. I would take kindness for granted. I wouldn’t be happy for no reason, smiling in the wind like an idiot on my way to class. I wouldn’t live life as fully as I am granted to now. I wouldn’t do any of those things because I wouldn’t know what it is like to lose everything so quickly.

Unfortunately, I do know what that is like, and I wrote this article for those who do too. All I can ask of myself and of whoever is reading this, is to trust in God and to trust in the days. Trust that the sun will rise once again and turn into this beautiful brand new day, holding potential and possibilities. My mom used to tell me that, that each day was a fresh start. She told me that if I should ever feel like giving up, to trust in tomorrow. Some days I think that advice saved my life. I believe together we will trust in this process, and together we will live our lives fully, in their memory.