My brother called me today and shared with me some tragic news. An acquaintance of ours from High School in Saint John’s passed away in a car accident on Thursday night, not far from where we went to school. My mother proceeds to call me shortly afterwards, telling me that my uncle in Puerto Rico had read it in the news, and remembered that he was a friend of mine, and wanted to let me know.

No, unfortunately, I wasn’t that close to Jose Felix. In my senior year, he was my treasurer and successor to the presidency of the Student Council, and he was full of promise and one of those “bright” kids who everyone knew would get into Harvard and such. And he did. I remembered his student council campaign, which involved a lot of smiley faces, playing upon his last name of “Alegría”, which meant “happiness” and “joy”. I competed with him in assorted Math and Science Bowl competitions (yes, I was a geek), and even saw and helped him when he went into Forensics and Oratoria. He had a lovely sister, Carolina, who I remembered taking a picture of when she was 4 or 5 randomly at a cousin’s birthday party.

It’s sad to see people’s lives just go poof. The fact that he had such promise, was bright, and was well-known, makes the tragedy stand out more. Ive had three friends of mine pass away so far this year. Bibiana, John, and now Jose Felix. What gets me the most is the fact that all of this happens, and the distance I feel between myself and my life in Puerto Rico just grows. I know that I am different now, but my loyalties and affections remain the same.

I am sure some people are looking for their yearbooks now, for pictures and to grab and remember what memories they have of the people who have gone, because that is all we have left now.