Her alarm went off. Just another day. Lay in bed and hit the snooze button a time or two. Maybe she was a one alarm person and got up as soon as the alarm sounded. Time for a shower, maybe some breakfast or at least a snack then off to school.
She greets classmates in the hallway and heads to class as the first bell rings. Did she doodle while she listened to the teacher? Maybe she took notes or maybe she didn't need notes because she grasped what was going on and could just dive into her assignments.
Time for another class. She leaves her classroom says hi to more friends in the hallway on her way to her locker to get books for her next class. So it goes. A few classes, lunch, a few more classes and then school is out for the day. Then it's off to track practice. After practice she will go home for dinner, do some homework, text friends and maybe watch some t.v.
Just another day.
Not quite. She never made it home after practice. Calls were made, Posts were put on facebook. Prayers were said. Searches were organized. It seemed as if most of West Wendover was at City Hall Saturday morning. Classmates, teammates, friends, strangers, search dogs, people from half a state away. All came to help find the missing girl. The searchers met at seven Saturday morning and by 11:30 that morning the search was suspended.
What started as just another day on Thursday morning ended Saturday morning in hugs and tears. Hugs of comfort and tears of sadness. Not much was said. Everyone just filed out of the room and went their separate ways.
She was found in a shallow grave just a day and a half after being recorded on video camera leaving school. She won't be going to Junior Prom, playing basketball as a senior in her number 22 jersey. The same number one of her teachers wore when she was in high school. No graduation or college. No marriage or kids.
Micaela Costanza will be missed by many people.
I was given some advice by one of my teachers when I was in high school. It was to never leave the house without kissing my wife goodbye, It didn't matter if we were mad at each other or not. If something were to happen to one of us, the other person would have the memory of one last kiss.
Give a hug, give a kiss, because it may start out as just another day but it doesn't mean that it will end that way.
Be a blessing and be blessed.
Well, as usual you managed to get me crying again. One of the most vivid memories I have of you getting 'mad' at me for something is me standing at the front door going to leave without having at least hugged everyone goodbye. As I have gotten older it has made more and more sense to me. It has had more and more meaning to me even though my family has always (in my eyes, though it didn't always appear this way) been the more important thing to me. However, hearing you say it again and relating it to something so tragic as this really puts a spin on it and REALLY puts it into perspective. ...Message sent home yet again!
ReplyDeleteI love you daddy!