You know, it's almost always the person you least expect to commit suicide. The one person i know who hung herself her freshman year of college i knew my whole life. I come from a rather small catholic community in the finger lakes area in New York State. The catholic schools were rather small, so small in fact that my entire grade school time we were both in the same class, in high school I chose to take business courses rather than language (spanish or french), so we only spent half the day together.
I wouldn't say she was my best friend but looking back on life, i can say without a shadow of a doubt her personality helped mold mine into what it is today. Sometimes you don't know how close you really are to someone (i've always been a bit guarded in life, I never really opened myself up outside of family and a few extremely close friends, in which she was one) until they're gone. I never did get to visit her funeral, as i went to school across country, and my family didn't have the money to afford a plane ticket to get there, and I remember being so frustrated and upset that I couldn't be there for her family, after growing up with her, and becoming good friends with her, and her parents. Even 16 years later I still visit her and place flowers on her stone on her birth day. Kind of my way of saying I'm sorry for not saying good bye properly.
For the longest time I couldn't fathom how it was possible for someone who had her life so together, and a future so bright could hang themselves. It still boggles me to this day, she seemed to be the happiest person i had ever met.
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