I never got to say goodbye to you. It seemed just like yesterday you were here, smiling. The next day you were gone. We grew up together since meeting in preschool, and you were the first person I remember as a friend. Even when we started elementary school and we ended up in different schools we still kept in touch.
Then that fateful day happened and you got sick. It was not a cold, or the chicken pox. It wasn't something that could just be cured with rest and relaxation. No, you were diagnosed with a disease that attacked your body. You developed a rare form of Leukemia, but even that did not stop you from fighting.
We would write to each other, seeing how things were going. You would ask me how school was, and I would wonder how you were doing. The last letter I received from you said you were feeling great. You had just gone through your 2nd of 3 rounds of chemo-therapy. You even included a picture of you in your hospital bed still smiling that big toothy smile I remember, but even smiles tend to fade.
I found out the day after your last round of chemo from your mom that the disease took you. At 12 years old; my light, you, dimmed. Even 13 years later I still have that last letter with me. Always reminding me of the friendship I had with you at such a young age.
You won't be my last heartache or my last loss, but you were my first. My first friend, my first memory, my first tragedy.
Kari Kamiya
1990-2003
Another one of my true stories. Unlike my first one "Friends" this one is 100% accurate, no embellishment needed.
It's ok for you to cry, and don't worry or feel sorry for me. My friend Krissy had a wonderful life while she lived, this is just another way for me to remember her.