Rest In Peace
I met Stacey Axling when I was in 8th grade. She was a freshman at North, and we were both involved in the production of "Crazy For You." That seems like a lifetime ago now. Stacey was one of my best friends in high school. We did everything together. We had so many inside jokes that we could laugh for hours, and no one else would know why. Stacey was always so happy. In one word, she was bubbly; but not the annoying bubbly that makes you want to punch someone. Stacey was positive about everything, and I needed that to get through high school. She supported me when I didn't even support myself, and she always expected greatness from me, and I tried to never let her down. Everyone loved Stacey, she had the best personality, and she seemed to love everyone else (though I know better, she was a girl after all, there were other girls she hated...and we hated them together). Stacey had more talent in her little pinky then most of us have in our whole body, but she never rubbed it in. She was short in stature, and I mean tiny, but she was larger then life in every other way. We always said that we would keep in touch, but she graduate, and I still had one year of high school. She had her new life at college, and I was trying to get through senior year so I could get the hell out of town and start a new life. We only saw each other once after I graduated, and only for a few minutes, a fluke actually, she ran into me at work while her friend was getting shoes somewhere else in the mall. I always told her I would call her when I got into town, both of us knowing that we didn't have the others number. People grow apart, but a part of me thought we would always grow together again. I look back now, and I can't imagine what my life would have been like at North without her there. In her grad letter to me she wrote "You've been such a great friend, one of my best friends, we can talk about everything...I love you so much, you kept me sane during the high school years. Without you, I don't know what I would've done!" I can honestly say I felt the exact same way about her. I still can't believe that she's gone. It doesn't make sense to me, my mind can't wrap itself around the idea that I'm never going to see her again. I don't think I'll be able to make it to the service, even though a part of me really needs to be there for closure. I just hope she knows how much I love her, and how much I will miss her.