Kyle's Friend Maria

today Maria came to visit. i'd never met her, but we had emailed a bit. she was out of the country when Kyle died and when we had his memorial in August. Maria sent pictures of Kyle and this is one of the two of them.

Maria had met Kyle when they were both part of the Early Bird program at SFSU. in July of 2003, they lived across the hall from each other in the dorm. they became good friends and kept in touch every few months throughout the rest of his life.

Maria's story is like so many others I have heard. when i--trying to figure out the network of Ky's life--ask a friend of Kyle's if s/he knows another friend--often s/he doesn't. while Maria knew Ky's freshman roommate Phil K. and others, she did not know the other Phil or Flynn or Sean or George.

each time i meet another friend, i learn more about Kyle. and more often than not, i get confirmation of how sweet and caring and wonderful a friend he had been.

for Kyle's friends to go out of their way to email, to send photos, to call, to come visit me--their friend's mother--when they are in LA, this speaks a lot to who Kyle was and to how important he was in their lives.

so Maria and i sat together and watched the Kyle slideshow. she talked about the last time she and Kyle had gone to Mojito's to see Phil's band play and how he'd bought her a Philly cheese steak sandwich. she remembered Ky looking at her with surprise when she offered him her couch (he'd been living in a hostel) as if he didn't understand how good a friend she considered him. she spoke of how sad she had been to be out of the country when news arrived of Ky's accident. we cried a bit and hugged and she assured me that everyone who met him loved him.

this lovely young woman taught me more about my boy.

what a gift i received today.