Eve

We will celebrate your memory later today. I already checked the forecast and the sky will be that perfect shade of blue that we all love. The Clefs will most likely sing "Carolina in My Mind" and the last lines will make me cry, they have every time I've heard the song since it was sung at the original memorial.

How do we continue to say goodbye without forgetting? It is a blessing that you were so high profile. You had interactions with so many people that your kindness and desire for a better world are easy for us to embody within ourselves.

What still touches me the most is your father's speech/letter. It has amazed me every time I read it, to see the hope and optimism for my generation, written while mourning his baby girl.

I will never forget the last time I saw you, dancing into the banquet to pick up the Nikes we were all so thrilled about and merely 72 hours later, I was holding a candle in one hand (that I will never throw away) and my friends with the other, watching pictures of your life flash before us on the screen.

Thank you for choosing us to receive the gift of your short but well lived life. You are the embodiment of our school motto "Lux et Libertas" and the Carolina Way will never be forgotten.

When I am older, and am getting ready to have my first child, will someone please remind me what I thought tonight. If it is a girl, her middle name will be Eve and if it is a boy, perhaps Carson. If only I could embody her spirit by just giving her name, the world would be a better place again.