Katherine's Day

Today is the day that a lovely little girl named Katherine died seven years ago. She was ten years old at the time and a student in my class. She died at the hospital after a tragic accident at the sand dunes where she had been digging holes until one collapsed and buried her. The Life Flight chopper was already sitting there anticipating some sort of drunken ATV crash, but instead, they loaded up a blonde-haired blue-eyed darling who had just played her flute in front of her peers a couple of days prior.

I knew her before she became my student. We bought Girl Scout cookies from this child. I remember visiting her in the hospital with her mom standing nearby. She was unconscious, but I talked out loud to her as if she could hear. It was a hard thing. I stroked her arm while I spoke. I made a mental note to never mention to her that I saw her wearing nothing but a diaper with oh so many tubes and needles stuck into so many places. Any fifth grade girl would have been mortified to know her teacher saw her in that circumstance. Her mom braided her hair before she slipped away and it looked beautiful at the funeral. She had just made the competition soccer team and they buried her in her uniform. She would have been a Senior this year.

I have her photograph sitting on the bookshelf behind my desk at school. One of Katherine's classmates, A., stopped by today to see me. It was my first time seeing A. since the last day of her fifth grade year. She looked lovely, clean, stylish, fresh, beautiful, and so grown up. She talked quite a bit about Katherine letting me know that she still had the same photograph on her bedroom wall. That photograph? I snapped it on the first day of school and made copies for the whole class when we heard the news. The family used the same picture on her headstone, which is why I must photograph my students on the very first day of a new school year. For Katherine's parents, it was the most recent picture of their precious daughter.

We talked about A.'s classes at the high school, her interests, her plans for college, and other hopes and dreams. Such a cutie. She volunteered to stop by in the spring to bring her graduation announcement. After pulling up her fifth grade class list on the computer and reviewing all the names, I told her to "tell everyone 'hi' and that I hope they're being GOOD!" A. remembers our school pyschologist talking about the various stages of grief.

Katherine had a best friend, J., who was also my student. Today, of all days, J. invited me to be her friend on Facebook. I don't think I can confirm because I don't think she's eighteen yet and that's my rule. However, the fact that the request came today is surely no coincidence. Today is Katherine's Day and people are remembering.

I can see Katherine's Bench from my classroom window. It's blue, her favorite color.