So Many Memories

It has been amazing to see how many schools, individuals and community members that have reached out to Bethany to give their support to the students and staff during this tragedy.  The Tractor Supply Store even put KeShawn's name on their sign to let the Elkhart community know that they were thinking of them.  In addition flowers have been sent to the school and Clinton Christian planned to bring donuts and coffee to the seniors before school tomorrow.  Besides making news locally, articles were written in the Indianapolis Star, Sports Illustrated and People Magazine.  When I allow myself to think about it, the sadness of this tragedy just becomes horrendous.  Senior night on Friday evening was such a wonderful celebration of his basketball talents.  He had a team high seventeen points, drank root beer floats with his friends to celebrate and hung out with everyone at Culver's after the game.

I was so glad that Meg was able to go to the game.  The pain in her mouth was at its worst Friday morning at 6:30 a.m.  At the time I was impressed that she made it in before lunch.  She knew that she had to go to school for at least the afternoon if she wanted to go to the game that evening.  Meg had decorated KeShawn a poster for senior night and wanted to be there to show her support just as he did for her on her senior night.  The memory of him cheering every time she got in a game or scored a basketball weighed heavily on her this week.  Tonight as she shared more stories of that day, she talked about how fortunate she was that the library was locked during lunch on Friday.  Instead of hanging out in there, she and Shawn sat on the couch and watched highlights of his game at Hamilton.  He was so proud of his success and was looking forward to his recruiting trip to Huntington College on Saturday.  It made her happy that she had spent that time with him Friday, just the two of them.

Meg shared many more memories with me this evening - the times that he bailed her out in ceramics class, the songs that he loved to sing and so much more.  She repeated several times that if she was this sad, she couldn't even imagine how devastated his mother and girlfriend were right now.   I told her that every time I felt sad for Shawn, his friends or family I would watch the video from the Prom workday.  Last April many of the juniors were mad that they had to work on a dreary, cold, rainy day.  Meg, Shawn and Izzy decided to just make the best of it.  That was what she loved most about her friendship with KeShawn.  He matched her passion for having fun.  Tonight as I posted some of her favorite memories of him, I couldn't help but smile.