When Kyle died last year, it was hard to conceptualize how we could all sit here together today, beginning to move forward in our lives without him. While that unquestionably is not easy to do now; sitting with Leib on my right and Zach on my left, surrounded by my CASmates: by my brothers, my sisters and all the heroic teachers that have held us up time and time again, I feel safe.
What we all have created here is extraordinary. Gemma and I spent the morning after Kyle’s accident frantically texting each and every one of you, confirming that you all would be attending the gathering for Kyle at Minassian’s house later that evening. Her house that night, while overwhelmed with sobbing students and teachers, had an invincible shield around it, ready to protect and hold together any familiar face welcomed in. Leaving that night, entering back into what we were just reminded was a vulnerable and destructible world, I remember longing for that majestic shield again. Over the next few days, spent exclusively in the comfort of my CAS family, I realized that what I had felt was not some magical shield; it was us.
It’s as if all the hardships we endured freshman and sophomore year, were only to bind us more tightly together, to prepare us to withstand the pouring rain.
I think what we’ve created is similar to a net; there to catch anyone who’s falling, and strong enough to catch us all at once on March 31st.
While I am terrified to leave the safety of this reassuring net, I am comforted by the fact that as we break apart from each other, this net will only expand and the powerful community we have created will continue to hold us up.
