3/10/14 MEMORIES ON MONDAY

This picture was taken late in the summer of 1994, just before I headed off for college. The girl sitting next to me was named Lisa. She was twelve when this picture was taken, a girl with strong opinions about movies and music, a great sense of humor, and the ability to communicate volumes without ever speaking a word.

I first met Lisa when I was hanging out with a friend who helped at her house and ended up working there myself soon after. I spent three and a half years, from February of my freshman year of high school through the summer after I graduated, helping to take care of Lisa's physical needs and doing a variety of other things around the house to help her family.

Her mom and sister (who I'm still in contact with), dad, and grandparents became friends of mine and they gave me the honor of being one of the people who spoke at Lisa's memorial service when she died unexpectedly less than a year after this picture was taken. It's been almost twenty years since she died and I think about her often.