Jaidon and I weren’t always too close, but in the past year and a half, we were the closest we’d ever been. For the past 17 years, most people have mistaken us as twins (even at his graduation, people congratulated the both of us). At first, it was pretty annoying, repetitive, that sort of stuff. But eventually, it made sense because most of my wardrobe was clothes I took from him. We stopped caring and just started joking about it all the time. While Jaidon and I may have looked similar, he was unique in so many different ways.
He was truly one of the smartest people I have ever met in my life. He was accepted to Towson and was going to work in the field of molecular biology and bioinformatics. Jaidon was extremely creative when it came to technology, as well as problem solving. He always had such cool solutions for everything. A few years back, he had bought a few nerf guns, but he didn’t really like how they worked. So being him, he decided it would be a great idea to try and reconfigure it to make it shoot faster and harder. Unfortunately, he succeeded, which led to another one of his fun ideas. Jaidon’s old room has a window facing the backyard. When we had a trampoline, he would slightly open his window and use his modified nerf gun to shoot at Laylie, Mattea, and I while we were jumping. Honestly, it didn’t feel great, he really did make it stronger. But oddly enough, we laughed and bonded over it.
On Wednesday, I lost my best friend. I’m still in denial, just hoping that this is a bad dream and he’s gonna come back from his trip soon. But I know that’s not going to happen, and it hurts. I have no words to describe the pain, numbness, and the empty feelings flowing through me right now. Even though he didn’t show it often, Jaidon was a very protective, caring, loving, older brother. He helped me overcome countless struggles, and he always supported me, no matter what. Although he was taken from this world much too soon, he has touched so many lives and will be greatly missed. Thank you all for coming to honor him today.
— Kyra