I didn't realize how bad it would hurt, until I was sitting there in the auditorium. She wasn't my friend, but she meant more to me then I could have imagined.

She was there everyday for a year of my life. She taught me many things, most importantly how to help. How to try new things, to express how I felt, to be the best that I am. She is the reason I'm where I am today.

And now she is gone. She will no longer be able to help, to comfort, to encourage another person.

It is almost strange to me that a person I haven't really seen in 12 years would have meant so much. It is strange that the death of my 6th grade teacher would hurt so bad. What hurts the most is that I never got to thank her. Thank her for opening me up to the world that I am in. I found out 3 weeks ago she had cancer, diagnosed 3 months earlier, and on sunday she died.

I thought I would be able to hold up at the funeral, and for the most part I was. Until I saw the Outdoor School necklace she had the year I was there, in the same colors as mine.

I just needed to get this off of my chest.

__________________
"...I won't be your winter...and I won't be anyones excuse to cry."

"Even heroes have the right to bleed."

"I'm wakin up at the start of the end of the world