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| Photo credit: CJ LeMaster |
Today marks the second year that I'm without a dear friend and college coworker, Adam. If you saw my Facebook profile picture change to the Radiohead bear today, this letter (see below) will help explain why. (You can read what I've previously written about Adam here, or read April's two blog posts here, or read Hannah's blogpost here. You can also read the editorial Kyle wrote the week that everything happened here.)
Today, The Reflector crew is celebrating Adam in Starkville by reading Dr. Seuss's "Oh The Places You'll Go!" in their staff meeting. They're also eating cupcakes from the State Fountain Bakery. (April and I thought it wouldn't be a proper reading or celebration without some delicious bakery sweets.) Most of them are younger, so they never had the chance to know Adam. April and I crafted this letter to help them understand why they're celebrating.
To my family and friends — I love y'all dearly and am so thankful for each one of you. The Lord has used y'all mightily in my life, and I am a better person for knowing each of you.
Today is my personal reminder to love others well and love them out loud. Don't ever forget to tell each other how grateful and thankful you are for each other, and be quick to encourage one another.
Dear Reflector crew,
We
hope today is a little bit of a celebration. (Hope the delivery helps y’all
celebrate since we can’t be there in person to help!) After talking about it,
we realized most of y’all never knew Adam, and that’s a shame. Adam was one of
those people who you love to have in the office. He was a hard worker, and went
above and beyond his job description to make our lives easier. He was great at
his job, and continually looked to make The Reflector better. There were so
many little things he did behind the scenes simply because he wanted us to be
better — he saved us so many times by catching little embarrassing errors. He
always wanted the finished product to be the very best we could do.
Adam
was a great friend. You know how y’all pull those crazy long hours and don’t
get any decent food? (not to mention sleep, social time outside of the office,
weekends off, etc.) Adam was quick to go grab Abner’s, Zaxby’s, etc. (in other
words, good, off campus food) — and he did so night after night, and
would even buy you food if you couldn’t pay him back right away.
He
was really thoughtful and looked out for us. During his final year at the
paper, several of us on staff couldn’t drive to campus — we walked or carpooled
with roommates every day. On late nights or rainy afternoons, Adam willingly
took all of us to our houses and apartments. He wouldn’t hear of us walking
home alone in the dark.
Losing
Adam was devastating. He was an incredible asset to our team, and brought lots
of laughter, hard work, diligence and talent to our group. When we lost him, we
lost a family member. But instead of dwelling on how hard it was to lose him,
we’ve chosen to remember a dear friend who loved us well and encouraged us to
do our best at work. While most of you never knew him, we hope you can get a
glimpse of just how special he was. You would have loved to be on staff with
him.
We
could go on and on about how great Adam was, but we would need a whole ream of
paper from Ms. Denise. :) So please ask Hannah, Julia, or Mrs. McDavid for
some of their stories — and listen to them. In honor of Adam, enjoy the reading
(as Hannah will tell you, the book is courtesy of Adam’s sweet parents) and the
bakery treats. (They were some of Adam’s favorites … but then again, he liked
almost everything from the bakery!) Feel free to blare Radiohead in your car,
dance to Lady Gaga, ride a Bully Bike through the office, change your InDesign
language to Russian, wear a cheap plastic ring on your finger all day, steal
Julia’s scarf and dress up with it, re-hide the “Sword of Truth” somewhere in
the office, write each other funny notes on yellow Post-Its and paste them all
over the Macs, go take random photos, fall out of your chair at the office,
come up with hilarious headlines and cutlines, make a ReflectorCat house ad …
you get the idea.
Most
importantly, remember to tell each other that you’re thankful for one another
and be grateful you get to spend time with each other. Rally around each other
and encourage one another. (And this doesn’t just apply to your coworkers. Tell
your friends, your family, those who you care about and those who care about
you.) Don’t let people forget that you love them and are thankful for them. We
know it sounds cheesy, but we mean it — don’t regret never taking the time to
tell someone how grateful and appreciative you are for them, and how much they
mean to you.
We’re
thankful for y’all and love y’all. We hope you celebrate Adam, friendship, good
work, laughter and memories today.
Love,
April (Editor
in Chief, class of 2011) and
Aubra (Managing Editor, class of
2010)
1 comment:
We enjoyed the cupcakes and appreciated the letter of tribute to Adam. Hannah read the book, which everyone seemed to like. Someone said they hope their own children enjoy that story some day.
I still remember each of you from that staff with tremendous fondness. You were a great family for each other and for me. You are all most special to me.
By the way, I appreciate the kindness you showed me earlier this month. The gift card was an unexpected surprise. You are tremendously thoughtful. Thanks and take care.
Frances
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