A Student Funeral and a Student Wedding

Being a teacher means getting to share in all sorts of life events with your students, if you're lucky. Today I shared in two that fall on opposite ends of the spectrum of lifetime milestones.

This morning I attended the funeral of Jakob Johnson. He was sixteen, so of course the funeral was much sadder than had he been a ninety-five-year-old man. There were many students there, which made me both happy and sad--happy that they would come to show their respects for Jakob and his family, and sad that they should have to deal with the death of a friend at such an early age in their lives. The music was beautiful. Maria Williams-Kennedy was the cantor and soloist, and her voice was as clear, soaring, and inspiring as ever. She was joined on one song by Jakob's girlfriend Amanda, who I couldn't believe was able to sing with such control despite her grief. Jakob's friends were gathered on the sidewalk after the funeral; I hope they will continue to spend time together and talk this through so that they can deal with the emotional aftermath of Jakob's death.

This afternoon I attended the wedding of Kassandra Frownfelter (now Kassandra Axt). It was a very brief but nice wedding, and all the participants seemed so sincerely happy about the event. The pianist was great, and the vocalist was a former student of mine, as were many of the guests and some of the wedding party, which made it fun to visit before and after the ceremony. As I told one former student today, once they've graduated, they all become the same age to me; I can't remember who graduated what year, so in my mind if they're not in high school any more, they're all the same indeterminate age. It's really enjoyable to go to former students' weddings and see the kind of lives they've created for themselves since high school--and conjecture what kind of lives they'll have in the future ("I wonder where they'll live," "I wonder what their kids will look like," etc.).

A day like this makes me wax philosophical about life, about relationships, about religion--all the biggies. I hope tonight Kassandra's friends and family fall asleep with happy memories in their heads, and I hope Jakob's friends and family fall asleep with hope and comfort drawn from their religion and their relationships with one another and with Jakob himself.