A Bittersweet Memory

This post came across my memories yesterday on Facebook.  I loved the picture that I took of Meg and Nick that night.  Meg was so excited to go to the boys' basketball game.  She had missed quite a bit of school after having her wisdom teeth out and although she was still in a lot of pain, she did make it to class for the afternoon that Friday as she knew that I wouldn't let her go to senior night unless she did.  I remembered the poster that Meg made for KeyShawn and how he had texted her to make sure that she was still going to the game.  That night when she got home she talked about the root beer keg that SGA had for the seniors and the fun that she had at Culver's with everyone even though her mouth was hurting incredibly bad.  I was so happy that she had enjoyed her evening.

As I looked at Meg's smile in that picture from two years ago, my heart started to ache.  As much fun as that evening was for her and her classmates, the next day was one of the worst that they had ever experienced.  Their friend, classmate and the reason that they all went to senior night was tragically killed in a car accident the next afternoon.  

I checked in with Meg today to see how she was doing.  She was sad and wished that the day could have slipped by unnoticed.  Meg had decided not to post anything about Shawn as it was just too hard to think back on that weekend without feeling an extreme amount of sadness.  She heard from a couple of her classmates and friends.  It helped to have someone to chat with who understood how she felt.  She asked me if this day would ever get easier.  I assured her that it would, but maybe not for his family and friends.  She worried that KeyShawn would be mad at her for not posting anything on social media about the friendship that meant so much to her.  In all honesty I didn't know how he would have felt.  Before she hung up, however, she said, "It's ok, Mom.  I'm still mad at him for saying my face looked fat after I had my wisdom teeth taken out."  We both laughed.  I loved that she still thought of him as the same friend he was then.  That's when I could finally smile.