A Beautiful Boy

I’m the luckiest girl in the world. I have a family at school. A majority of my family is made up of boys. There was 9 of them. Today I found out that we have lost a member of my family and honestly I don’t know how to process that. 

His name is Aaron, and he is the most caring individual I’ve ever met. 
For those of you who don’t know Aaron like I do, I’m sorry if this post is confusing/sad/hard to read, but he is one of my best friends and everyone should know how amazing he is.

I’m not going to use was. I can’t. its just too hard right now.

The first time I met Aaron was in passing, we were introduced but I was on my way out the door so I came off as a bit of an asshole. 
The second time I met Aaron was my first day of Sophomore year, he lived across the hall from me with my friend Robbie. 
Over the course of the past year and a half Aaron and I got really close, having a ton of late night conversations about family, friends, the future, religion, the mind, alcohol, relationships, etc. He would sit with me for hours on end in the common room and just let me talk. He never once judge my decisions and I never once judged his. We had an unspoken agreement of honestly and open mindedness. He let me vent, and I let him vent. He gave me advice others never thought of, and he is one of the only people in the world I will ever let call me Caitlin. 

Aaron had this way of giving you all of his attention and remembering every world you said. He always wanted to know how YOU were, never putting the attention on himself.
That actually pissed me off a lot. It was so damn hard to check up on that kid, it was like pulling teeth, but when it was just us one on one we had the best conversations.
He has a talent for cheering people up, making everyone smile or laugh. He has one of the goofiest smiles I’ve ever seen. When he smiles, really smiles, it spreads all over his face and you can’t help but smile back. 
Aaron also knows every terrible/annoying/repetitive/hilarious video on youtube. I’m not joking, I’m pretty sure he’s watched everything on youtube- oh and he would quote it too. God I hate when he quotes things I don’t understand. 

The last time I saw Aaron was over the summer, right before I came to South Africa. He was working at WAC and during my second night there he made me watch this terrible Kung-Fu movie with him and our friend Giggles (I seriously do not know that boys real name, thats how he was introduced to me). It was awful and wonderful at the same time. I’m not sure if a movie has ever made me laugh that hard before. We never finished the movie because as per usual we started talking and before we knew it the credits were rolling and Giggles was headed to bed. 
My last memories of Aaron were sitting on a couch with him talking about the next year of my life, telling him my fears and my hopes for my upcoming adventure. I told him I was afraid that our family would fall apart and disintegrate while I was away, and I’ll never forget how he responded to that:

“Caitie, we probably will fall apart- we’re a bunch of dysfunctional people- but at the end of the day you know that we will be there for each other. I’ll make sure of that”
The next morning I hugged him goodbye and said “See you in December!”

In a strange way I guess I had a chance to say goodbye and Aaron kept his word. Today I've talked to all of my boys and the rest of my WAC family- they are staying strong and being there for each other.
 I can replay those last moments over and over and rethink that past 2 months of my life , wondering if anything I said or didnt say would have changed things- but I know that it wouldn't have. I’m dealing in my own way, and helping my family deal with this too. We lost a brother, a best friend, a confidant, and a pillar of our family.

I am the luckiest girl in the world because I had the honor of being best friends with one of the kindest and most compassionate human beings to ever walk this earth. He will forever be our sweet Aaron, and I choose to remember him for his greatness, his love, and his friendship. 

Arron Taylor is, was, will always be one of my beautiful boys. He has my love forever and he will never stop being a member of my family.