The last time I saw Sid Michaels Kavulich was at his annual Youth & Government Forum at Keystone College.  I take my students every year, and it’s a wonderful chance for kids to interact with the people who make decisions that impact their lives rather directly.

When Sid and I spoke, he said he’d love to come talk to my students and give them a raw perspective, more direct and real, than what they were getting at the Forum.  Both my students and I were excited, since the Forum itself can get pretty intense.  We ended up deciding the best time for it would be at the beginning of this school year, in September, because I do a dystopian fiction unit and, to quote Sid, “We’re living in a dystopian right now.”

I hate having to write, yet again, about the tragedy of loss.  Sid was a good man, and a friend.  I’d heard he wasn’t doing the best, and sent him a text the Saturday before his passing, which read: “Thinking of you, bud.  I hope for all the best.  Don’t forget, you’ve got to visit my students soon!!!!  We are all rooting for you!”

And they were.  And they were equally devastated when they found he passed.  He met a lot to a lot of people, as we could all see from the outpouring of love and grief on social media and at his viewing and funeral.

You know, every Christmas, my phone would light up with a text from Sid.  It was without fail.  It’s a kind gesture to be remembered, since who am I?  In fact, this past Christmas I told my wife how much it meant to be, since it was such a small and yet meaningful gesture.

I’m sad that I’ll be missing it this year.