Monday August 22nd, 2016, 8:55 a.m. Will Krajewski died of osteosarcoma at age 17. Will had been fighting cancer for many years. The day he died, his mom asked the day to be called an "angel day". For others to go out in memory of her son and do some wicked awesome acts of kindness. His father wrote about the tradition in the theater that when someone of influence dies the lights of Broadway and the London Stage are dimmed. He questioned why someone would dim the lights for those who turned on so many more lights and made them shine brighter. It had not made any sense to him. He argued with the saying that "the world is a less colorful place now that this person or that person has passed away" because if we truly did keep dropping colors every time someone that we loved died, we would all be seeing in shades of grey. The Krajewskis had known for many weeks that this day would come and have had the time to cope, but many of us who had known Will had not. Will's family was more worried about those who had known their son than their own grief.
The day after Will's death, his family had a candlelight vigil at Saint Andrew Lutheran Church, the church I had attended with the Krajewski family since both Will and I were small. His family said that if we could not make it, to turn on every light in our house, to get our neighbors to do the same, to do it for at least an hour. To pull out the colored crayons, pencils, paints and draw pictures of every kind and allow our imaginations to run wild. To mount those pictures on our fridge, walls, anywhere and everywhere. To post them for everyone to see, to tell others about Will. Do these things in inspiration of Will who had come into our world to bring his light to make this a better place, and added his colors to make the world more vibrant and beautiful. His work continues well beyond a body that like all bodies will turn to dust. His soul however, continues on because of his strong faith in God.
I remember sitting down with his mother talking about college and the future, as I was two grades above Will. She was not sure how he would go to college, not that he was not smart or anything like that. I was mentioning the usual scholarships for those whose lives had been touched by cancer. However, it was more of a concern that their family liked to be quiet and not as out in the open. She had seen other families like hers go out and do amazing things; she just did not know how they would do the same. She had not realized yet just the impact her child and family had made. But now they know. Those who knew Will know. Now it's the world's turn to know about Will.
