Sorry about that last post. I was trying not to say what I'm about to say.
I'm running/walking/- no COMPLETING- the Rock'N'Roll Half Marathon in Imette's honor. You guys know that.
Her death and the emotions it caused rolled across the nation. I don't know that I'll ever be able to express how I felt when I got that phone call.
Every time I see her face on a news program, I get really sad. Really sad. They always use this one picture of her from her high school yearbook. It gives me this jolt of recognition. They always say her name funny. I never called her "Emmett", always "EEmette", with the i latina del español.
Her mom is soooo tiny, with red and white hair. I remember meeting her, just the once, during parents' weekend up at GW. Frank was with them. Imette definitely got the brightness of her smile from her mom. She was so energetic, yo. Her mom said something last night on the CNN newscast that just resonated.
"She was fantastic. She was just fantastic." I have to agree.
You know, I say that I'm running this in Imette's memory, but through all my efforts I have no idea if her mom's okay with this. I hope so. Just as I like to think that Imette's cheering me on. On the hard miles and especially during this last hard patch, I can hear her SO distinctive voice, not letting me give up. But the truth is, I run to honor her, because I'll never really know if she's okay with this or not. All I can do is look for the signs, and cross off the miles I run on roads I'll never know if she sees. I don't really know how to honor a fantastic person who died so wrongly. But I chose this.
So tonight, when I run, I know that God is with me. I hope Imette asks him to send a wind to dry my tears.
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Just to let you know that you are not alone in being the only one who is sad about Imette’s passing. I also feel that she was a fantastic person. You can see the love in her eyes when you look at any of her pictures. Unfortunately, I never knew her in this life.
From the protests that I attended when they were started in early March against The Falls bar, to driving from NYC to Boston to attend the “A Night For Imette” fundraiser sponsored by Boston Latin High School, her old Alma Mater, I’ve gotten to know a lot about Imette. There, I met briefly with Imette’s family. I also saw pictures of Imette being displayed by a digital projector that the general public has not seen. Imette is shown from Childhood to young Adulthood. Some of the pictures must have been taken with a ‘date-camera’ because the date in imprinted on the bottom right. It’s sad to view some of these as I ended up thinking “this was taken 2 years before …;” this was taken 6 months before …”
I’d like to give you this link. It is a response to an e-mail that I had sent to Terry James, one of the webmasters at Rapture Ready DOT com, about Imette. If you scroll down, you’ll see his response titled “Endtime Behavior” where I mentioned our experiences of rallying against The Falls bar and what we were up against:
http://www.raptureready.com/nm/86.html
Imette touched me in a way I had never expected. I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer just two months before her death. Indeed, I worked at the World Trade Center in 2001. I’ve excaped death a number of times in my life and I have often wondered ‘why’? If it were possible, I would have traded my life just to get her’s back; to take away the grief that her Mother, Maureen, and her Sister, Alejandra must be feeling, expecially as the current holidays being on or around the 25th are a reminder of Imette’s passing.
I agree with you and this I have learned. We have some people walking among us, and we don’t even know them; and some of them are fantastic! Such was Imette C. St. Guillen.
She and her family are in my prayers daily and I look forward to meeting with her in the next life.
I hope you receive this response as, no one else has left a comment. Imette’s life was too important NOT to leave a comment on her life.
Comment by Christopher Mangan November 30, 2006 @ 7:54 pm