The loss of any classmate from elementary school all the way up to college is always a heartbreaking thing. You often do not even consider the possibility that a peer can pass away. We are all too young for that to start happening, right? It a surreal thing, to go from seeing someone almost daily to experience their absence.
If you were close to them, you are flooded with all these memories that you shared and think about how things could have went differently. You feel guilty, like you didn't do enough or didn't spend enough time with them like you could have. It is surreal how you can go from children running around to now adults grieving the same pain. People aren't supposed to die so young or so soon, it all just seems so unfair.
If you weren't so close to them then you feel guilty. You feel like you should have gotten to know them better, like maybe things would play out differently if so. You can't believe that they are gone, you feel this little numb pain and it's an eye opener. You think about all the things they could have been, their life, their family,their friends and you put yourself in their shoes and feel their pain.
Regardless of if you were close to them or not, you played a part in their life and they played a part in yours. You always expect to see them walk through the door and you always think about where they would be now. The world is a lesser place and you are grateful for being able to know them.
Classrooms are quieter and classmates are closer, we cling on to each other and we make it through the grief stronger and closer than before. We are reminded that death can not be avoided and it is very real. Being reminded of this makes us hold our loves ones a little closer and think about how blessed we truly are and how much we take for granted.
We go through life and we meet people and we lose people, but they always leave an imprint in our lives. We carry a little or a big piece of them wherever we go and we leave a little of ourselves on them as well.
Tim McGraw said it best;
“We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere."
