Dear Beau,

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day.....a bittersweet day indeed...... 

I never wanted to know more about HIV/AIDS....but then it took you from us....I had to stop pretending it didn't exist. 

I miss you so much.  I'll spend a lot of time thinking about you.  There are so many things I wish I could tell you.  There are so many things I miss. I miss those jazz band/show choir bus trip.......not the rides, so much; but those long talks we had.  I'd so love to hear you sing again....I can't help but smile when I hear Donna Summer, the Doobie Brothers, or some of the others from our SSJH/SSHS days.  I miss your contagious smile....

but I also think about how happy you'd be because tomorrow is also Tommy and Shannon's eleven month wedding anniversary....and so, along with the bitterness of losing you, my dear friend, comes the sweetness of gaining Shannon, and a different perspective about HIV/AIDS and those whose lives have been affected.

I promise to continue to help carry your torch and keep your light shining. 

I love you, Beau.  I miss you.

 I simply cannot think of high school without thinking of Robert. My family moved to Steamboat in the summer before my sophomore year. I was on the cross-country team, and we were training before the school year started. Thank god, Robert was my first friend. Everyone on the team was so great to me, but Robert was an instant ally. I felt like he made it his mission to make sure I felt comfortable and welcome. He was always cheering the loudest at the finish line, which I appreciated since I was an average athlete at best. I looked forward to training with him, road trips with the team. (staying at Coach Shikles' cabin was especially fun!) He remained a constant and loyal friend the rest of my high school years.

He was so bright and shiny, it seemed there wasn't anything he couldn't do. He was smart, he was funny, he was kind, he was so motivated - I was amazed at how much energy he had. We laughed an awful lot. He could be such a goofball.

Like so many of my friends, we went our seperate ways after school, and kept in touch only sporadically.When he was at DU we would talk for hours on the phone and get all caught up, and then we would go for months without talking. A few years later we discovered we were living just blocks away from each other on Capital Hill in Denver. Before long I moved to AZ and we lost track of each other.

I dropped out of touch with a lot of people for a lot of years - but thanks to social networking, we all get to re-connect and reminisce and tell stories about where we've been. I'd like to think we would have a great time together, since we all have more perspective now and could talk more frankly about life and weed out what's not important. I wonder what it would be like to sit on a patio somewhere and have a few laughs.

I loved him very much, I miss him terribly, and I'm so grateful I knew him. He was kind to me at a very important time in my life, and changed me greatly. I can't imagine I had even a fraction of importance in his life. I wonder how many people feel that way about him! Much love to the Southalls and everyone else who cared so much about him. 

Kerry Aufderheide

       Guess you know there was a big multi-year reunion this weekend, Beau.  I'm sure you would have LOVED that......a party with all your favorite friends; dancing; laughing; recalling stories from high school.....

Miss you so much.   The world's just not quite the same without you.