I knew you were special the first time Zach ever mentioned you. He didn't mention just anybody that he came across or that he even liked, for if he did he would have been mentioning people left right and center and eventually I would have gotten annoyed at the 100000th person mentioned, told him to stop already, and he probably would have injected with "But wait! I have to tell you about just one more person. It's this cool girl who lives down the hall from me. Her name is Kat." And I would have rolled my eyes and, of course, listened as he kept going.
But it didn't happen like that. He told mom and dad about you before even your first day of classes started. He told me about you that first week. About the "cool and cute" girl who lives down the hall, the one he showed the album I made him to, the one whose room he goes to until Brian can come back and save the day when he locks himself out for the zillionth time. I would always wonder "Who is this Kat girl? Is 'Kat' her real name?"
I met you in February of 2006, two months after December 2005. I really had no business being in Boston, or in Baker House, that winter. But you welcomed me with your arms wide open and with your beautiful smile soft across your face at first, but by the end of the trip, it was big and wide and there all of the time. I knew why Zach liked hanging around you, obviously. You were pretty much his perfect type - beautiful, intelligent, fun, athletic. I loved you from right there and then on.
Thank you for that trip - for welcoming Sam, Michael, and myself. For not thinking it was weird, or for thinking it was and loving on me anyways. Thank you for not letting it end there.
One day when I get to Heaven, I'm going to tell Zach about so much. I can see one of our conversations going a little something like this:
Me: "Zachie, I have to tell you something insane. Like, it is so insane I spent my entire life just wondering HOW."
Zach: "And what's that, little girl? By the sounds of it, you spent your entire life wondering how about a lot of things."
Me: "No, no, this one is at the top of the list. Your MIT friends loved me. Some of them truly loved me. They didn't even KNOW me before you left. Why did they love me like they did? They didn't even have to TALK to me EVER in their life but they did, forever. Do you know how INSANE that is?!"
Zach: "Al, why do you think I was friends with some of them in the first place? I found the ones with the best hearts. God knew what he was doing when he began friendships between me and them. It spanned beyond just my own friendship with each of them. I've watched how they've loved you your entire life since. I've been grateful for them from the beginning, and will be forever. They're the best friends I could have made at MIT."
And then I'll hug him and we'll talk about how grateful we both have been for you, for your family, for Jason.
Kat, thank you for loving me. Sometimes I really still can't even believe it. Thank you for coming to our wedding. It was like part of Zach was there with the three of you there. Thank you for allowing me to shoot your and Jason's wedding, to meet your families (always tell your dad hi for me - that's one sweet man), thank you for letting me come to Boston when the dreaded ten year mark hit. Thank you for taking me around MIT. Thank you for telling me stories about Zach. Thank you for telling them with that sweet smile on your face and the deep love in your eyes. Thank you for hanging out with me. Thank you for always, always, always being just one text message away. Thank you for sharing your stories with me. Thank you for your strength and intelligence and funness and wisdom and kindness and beauty.
I will always be beyond-this-world grateful for you. You are one of my favorites.
Thank you and I love you. So much.