In loving memory

Her quivering hand gripped his in a sea of black sniffles. His palms were sweaty and his chest quickly rose and fell as his tearful sighs echoed throughout the church. All of the stages of grief were represented in this room smothered with sorrow over the loss of their son.

Over a life that had so much potential, so much more life left to live, that had been cut so incredibly short, so unfairly short. And now a room of loved ones, friends, and admirers mourned it's ending; mourned his absence along with all of the plans made that would never happen, all of the hopes and dreams that could never be fulfilled, and all of the experiences that he would never be able to have. Some sobbed because of how suddenly his life had come to a halt. Some sat angrily and stiff, because, "why him?" A question they would never have an answer to, yet they continue to ask it, to muddle over it, to lose sleep about it.

And in the midst of such incredible pain and tragedy and the loss of such a young life, I think the only answer we can choose to formulate is that because it was him, we can take the memories, the pain, the sorrow we feel in our hearts and we can choose to live better, to love more, to laugh harder and to help others. We can honor him with the lives we are so blessed to continue to live today. 

I did not have the privilege of knowing Michael deeply or even intimately in friendship, but I do have the privilege of knowing so many who knew him, so many who now mourn his loss. I have seen his brothers sit outside of the Shack with candles and flowers under his picture. I have seen them living out their pain, and I hurt for them. It has been a shaking event and Clemson has had an overtone of grief this week. I think that, whether we knew Michael or not, the loss of this young man that was in a very similar place of life as each of us can impact us in ways that will improve our character, our values, our lives, and our futures. We may never know why it had to be Michael, why he had to be ripped from our lives so early and so abruptly, but the wounds that his death have left upon us can be tended to and healed into tougher skin, proving to make us stronger in the end. 

It's hard to wrap our feeble minds around such a tragic loss, and sometimes it's incredibly hard to see the good in these events throughout the course of life, but what I do know is that we can take this loss and we can utilize it to better ourselves so that we can, hopefully, leave someone a little better when it's our turn to go. And then we can join Michael and thank him for being the best version of himself that he could be.

You are dearly missed.