Neither one of us could remember exactly the first time we met, but my earliest memory of Luke was when I was a freshman at Woodside High School. 9th grade was that one of the toughest years of my life: I remember being so shy I wouldn't eat lunch in the cafeteria, but would instead cram my head inside of a book and hide in my next classroom until class started. I barely spoke a word to anyone, and deep inside I was going through one of the hardest tragedies anyone could every go through, but I remember loving music and being so happy every time I opened my school rented (and very broken) Suzuki violin to play.
Orchestra was the place I loved to express every inner feeling and I especially looked forward to rehearsal with the full group and other high school we combined with. Music at that point was my life and the only thing I loved.
One day, this really tall kid with glasses came up to me during break to talk to me because he noticed I never really talked much. He asked me my name and introduced himself to me. He told me he'd seen me around before Woodside and that he played bass. We talked about being in the orchestra and music magnet and school. Each week at rehearsal or if he saw me around school, we continued to talk about whatever was going on in life. I loved ballet in addition to music, so I would sometimes come straight from ballet class to rehearsal and he would ask me about that too. Eventually as I became less shy, I started talking to other kids in orchestra. Luke and I really became friends my sophomore and junior year. He called me Nishka and he was like my brother. He used to take me out to the nearby Wendy's in Yorktown for Frosty's after school and he'd ask me about my life. We talked on AIM all the time about life and music and future plans.
Some of the best times I had with him were when he was a senior and I was a junior and I switched to cello in the spring semester because we needed more cellos. He and I would always "bow five" whenever the two of us played well. He always encouraged me.
After he graduated, we still kept in touch and he provided me with an even deeper friendship. He was constantly encouraging and even came to visit me whenever he could. After I graduated, we hung out that summer after he had been to Iraq serving as a Marine, when he was injured, but determined to re-join. He was headed to Russia at the time, to be a missionary, and there he fought cancer. We continued to keep in touch as he battled life's craziness. My favorite conversations were the ones we had about the future and about faith. In my old blog on January 17, 2005 I wrote, "Today we were talking about our future... We were joking about how I'm going to be a wonderful mom and a great musician and how I would be teaching his kids and he'd be calling me for advice and babysitting..."
He always wanted me the best for me. We would always joke and laugh how we would both have musical prodigy kids who would take lessons from me. He would always say that I would have 5 kids, so I could have a string quintet (there had to be a bass of course, which is why it was a string quintet). He always encouraged and supported my life as a musician. He also introduced me to Jimmy Eat World and Rascal Flatts and we both loved Carrie Underwood. He was inducted into Tri-M shortly after I was and we played many pieces together in orchestra. He was an outstanding musician himself, although too humble to admit the gifts that he was given.
He also was so happy when I found my faith. He was so encouraging with my Baptism and even attempted to come for it. He was such a strong example of beautiful faith. Now that I do have a faith, I think he might have been my guardian angel all of those years. He prayed for me and looked out for me. The last conversation we had was around Thanksgiving. I was pretty ill from injuring my knee, so our conversation was brief, but he basically told me that he had been out of touch with me since the summer because he had re-joined the Marines and that he was most like going to be deployed soon. We had attempted to talk before he left, but it never happened, and I miss him so much.
He passed away February 5, 2011 while serving in Afghanistan. I wish I wouldn't have been away so much in February, otherwise I would have found out earlier. I didn't find out until March 5, which would have been his 25th birthday when my phone reminded me at midnight to call him, especially because I was leaving for New Orleans that morning and didn't know when I was going to get to wish him a happy birthday. I did call and left a voicemail, but I thought I'd write on his facebook too, just because I knew he was far away and might not get the voicemail. That's when I discovered that he'd passed away, which was one of the saddest moments of my life.
Luke, thank you for being such a great friend to me and so many others. Thank you for your service to God and to our country, and I will never forget what a beautiful and honest soul you were. I miss you and this Memorial Day has meant the most to me because you meant the world to me. Thank you for all the fun times, conversations, and music we shared. Rest in peace forever and always, and I can't wait to see you again.
(These are some pictures I stole from facebook)
Once a musician, always a musician :)
Luke, and his nephew, playing the drums.
The most serious face I have ever seen. Underneath is the biggest heart I have ever known.
Taken today by his best friend Bryan. May Luke forever rest in peace.
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