Remembering Respectfully

 Even after a year I can still recall the man sitting at his desk, reminding us that our work nights were going from "three until glee", and knowing that every time I printed off something he'd have to fix the printer.  I'm thankful, every day, I didn't have to go back to that newspaper room on August 18, 2010 and go to that class and have him not be there. I'm thankful that I never had to settle for second best because I always had him.
Michael Dunlap was one of the most beautiful and inspiring people I have ever met. He was my teacher for 3 years but everyone who had him knows that he was so much more, and provided much more than just scholastic education. He use to sit in the back room with me and Kaiti and advise me against almost all boy decisions I made, while heating up whatever health food concoction he was eating at that point in time.
He died, August 2, 2010 of an aneurysm.
I could write forever, about the way he changed high school for me and for countless others, providing a judgement free place to go at all hours of the day. But writing wont bring him back. The days following his death, I did what a lot of other students did. I called his cell phone, I watched the class day video, I thought of the last time I saw him at graduation and how he hugged me and told me he was proud of me, and I laid in my bed and wondered how & why. I visited his room every day for a week after that, and I sat there and cried with the other mourners. Visiting my high school was never going to be the same, and since the day one of the administrations let me stand in the newspaper room, I haven't been in there since. His stuff was still on his desk and his Britney Spears poster was in the back room. The school had just gotten the latest version of Mac Computers, something he had been wanting all year. At his wake there was a line out the door for hours, & at his funeral hundreds of people showed up causing the crowd to stand outside in the heat, and the air was full of muffled cries, and hugs, and a mutual feeling of loss between friends, family, and strangers.
I got my MacBook Pro, the day I found out he died. In fact I had just opened it, and signed on to facebook when I read the first status saying "RIP Michael Dunlap". Then I got the call. He was the reason I begged my parents for days to get a MacBook. He had spent a ridiculous amount of time sitting at the computers in the newspaper room with me teaching me how to use one. Telling me, no there isn't a right click but yes copy and paste are still options. & I'd be damned in newspaper if he hadn't taught me what Apple Q did.
So August 2, 2011- what can I tell you I believe? I believe that some things in life wont ever make sense, but instead of constantly questioning why, be grateful you had the opportunity to rejoice in what was. 

 Rest in peace Mr Dunlap, you are the reason I will stick with teaching. I smile knowing that you started a chain of dedication and a love for life that will long out live all of us.