Giving Thanks for Kelsey Chanei Hogarth. Today is a day for family, appreciation, and love.

Kelsey Chanel Hogarth

It is also a day to cherish the bonds we have in this miraculous, but complicated world.

I learned over the weekend of the passing of Kelsey Chanei Hogarth. My heart has been in my stomach ever since.

When I returned to CNY from Louisville, Kentucky, in 2007, the first year was rough. Yet, during my second summer, two special individuals graced my life and quickly became friends. One was Tracy Hogarth, the stellar educator and believer in all children of Syracuse, and the other was Kelsey Chanei, her daughter...a beautiful spirit with soul, energy, and karma who radiated joy everywhere she went.

Kelsey and I worked together at the Roberts School with our colleague, Jessica Earley. Jessica and I knew really quick how fortunate we were to have this young woman on our team. She was organized, enthusiastic, committed, and hardworking. More accurately, she was simply precious - the rare blend of intellect, beauty, integrity, and leadership. In reflection of knowing both Tracy and Kelsey, I can say they have always been winged individuals with a flare for happiness.

I remember a day when I was called to sit at the pool in Corcoran High School to work with a young man who Kelsey reprimanded with a time out on the bleachers. He was a tough cookie (a biter, a kicker, and a puncher), and the two of them did not see eye to eye. At the pool, however, wrapped in a towel and sporting a pouting lip, he lamented, "I'm angry because I disappointed her. I told her I didn't like her, but I really do. Kelsey is doing so much for us and I'm mean to her. I don't know why. I shouldn't be and I keep trying to change, but it's hard." Kelsey didn't give up on him; instead, she came over to offer tough love and guidance. The young man, Rudy, benefited from her patience and generosity.

I'm unable to travel to Syracuse this Thanksgiving to be with my friends and family and I'm sad I won't be able to be with Tracy this Sunday to share love for Kelsey. The two of them are VIPs in my world. While I was finishing my doctorate at Syracuse University, I loved the days when I ran into Kelsey on campus because it was like seeing a unicorn or meeting a woodland faerie. Her spirit surpassed the mundane...there was always a glow around her. I knew when we bumped into one another, my mood would instantly get better. She made me feel that all of us earning degrees were working on something bigger...something more special. With a glance of her eyes she could center my universe and put me back on track for what I set out to accomplish. That was her power.

And that is also why I'm using today to post how thankful I am for having the opportunity to have had at least one summer working with her. I am a better man because of her and am thankful our journeys crossed for a short while. Syracuse has lost a piece of its magic, indeed.

Kelsey, you will be missed. Your mother did a spectacular job raising you. Please, watch over all of us. We will need your embrace.

Services for Kelsey Chanei Hogarth will be on Sunday, December 1st, 2013 at 1:30 (Repast immediately following at the same location) at May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society:
3800 East Genesee Street, Syracuse, NY 13214, Phone: (315) 446-8920, e-mail: office@mmuus.org

Today, the voice of Eva Cassidy seems to resonate as I reflect on time, appreciation, and what matters most.