It's been a while since I've posted on here, but given some recent events I figured it was as good a time as any to put some of my thoughts into words.
I learned yesterday that a boy I was friends with my first year of high school was killed in a car accident. Upon first hearing the news, I was shocked; it's always shocking when someone young dies. I was also shocked by how I reacted. Here I was, sitting in my dorm room, thousands of miles away from where the accident took place, crying hard about the death of a boy I hadn't talked to in years; Austin left my high school after our freshman year, and I didn't do a good job of keeping in touch. Amidst the shock and sadness, I remembered this quote, well part of it, by Maya Angelou.
I was, and still am, so upset and troubled by Austin's death because of the way he made me feel. I was new to SMH my freshman year, and knew no one. A lot of kids had been going to school there since they were in elementary school or younger, and shy, fourteen year old me had a hard time finding people to be friends with. Now five years later, I couldn't tell you how I first met Austin or how we came to be friends, just that we did. He was one of my first friends in high school and I will never be able to thank him for being so nice to me. There aren't many people out there with as kind of hearts as Austin, and even though we may not have stayed friends throughout the years, I will never forget the boy that always had a smile on his face, who helped me survive physics honors, who was the only person I danced with at my first winter formal, and who was genuinely one of the nicest people I will ever have the privilege of knowing.
Rest easy Austin. My thoughts and prayers are with you, your family and friends.
Love Always,
Ashley
