As some of you know, this has been a rough year for me. A couple of months ago, a very close friend of mine from Boswell killed himself. I haven't been able to bring myself to write about it until now. We were like the Two Amigos. If you saw me, Mark was probably right beside me. We had rooms beside each other, we ate together, and we even did the same things in our classes. He taught me some great teaching tricks and I taught him how to use BearShare (a fair trade if you ask me). OK, so I taught him so other computery stuff, too, but man did he love him some file-sharing. After changing schools, I tried to talk him into to joining me every time we spoke. One Saturday morning at 6:30 the phone rang and it was my old principal giving me the news. I was just as dumbfounded by it then as I am today. The funeral was incredibly sad. He left behind a live-in girlfriend and her children who had really come to be his family. He made such a positive impact on their lives. I hope they carry on.
On Thursday of last week, one of my students was hit by a car while crossing the road on his way to school. A few minutes later, I attended a meeting where they gave us the news and told us how bad it was. They were having trouble getting a hold of the parents. We were floored. My heart when out to him and his family. Later that day, he passed away at the hospital. His funeral was today. With the memory of Mark's funeral still fresh in my mind, I couldn't bring myself to attend it. Being the funeral of a child made it that much worse. I already feel guilty about it.
I've never lost a friend before. I've never lost a student before. I can't bring myself to take his name off the seating chart and every time I take roll, I have to think about his empty seat. It's a weird feeling.
I've never lost a student. I can't imagine what that must feel like. So sorry for your loss, and I'll say a little prayer for his family.