For a Dear Friend

                             

     
                             Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality.- Emily Dickinson

How do you even begin to describe a guy like Jon Kebe? He was the surprise ending to the best movie you’ve ever seen, the exotic food you tried that you never knew you couldn't live without. He was too great not to celebrate. Kebe was, and I can say this with no hesitation or pretense, The single greatest guy I’ve ever known. I never knew a  person who didn’t love him, wasn’t impacted by his kindness, his warm nature and his sense of humor. He was the person who makes you feel the way you wish you made others feel. He lead by example, he loved hard, he loved everyone and made the world the place that it should be. He celebrated differences, cultures, languages and made so many of us into the best possible versions of ourselves, because he was the prototype. I had the pleasure of meeting up with him on two different continents in 3 separate countries and each time I was more in awe of him than the last. To say I looked up to him, doesn't even begin to describe it. Jon was and is a legend in my eyes.

Jon came into my life at a time where I didn’t even know that I needed him. I hated me. I hated the person I was. I hated how emotional I felt, how different I appeared. Jon celebrated me! He sauntered up in a checkered shirt with polka dot shorts, he didn’t match, he didn’t care. I could smell his cologne before he even extended his hand to say “I’m Jon Kebe” before quickly coming in for a hug. As we separated he said “were gonna be good friends.” and he was right.  Jon, whether I ever told him or not, got me through the toughest night of my life. At the peak of my depression, when I didn’t even understand my reason for being here and had contemplated multiple existences, each one without me in it, he gave me purpose. That evening he called me just to say “Maggie,I can tell something is going on with you and you don’t have to tell me, but do you know how much of an impact you’ve made on these kids. How much of an impact you’ve made on me? You were meant to be a teacher. Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”  And that tomorrow came, because of him.Because Jon saw something in me that I didn’t. He saw purpose. He saw that I needed more and that I needed to allow myself to be more. He gave me the courage to do all of the things I was too afraid to admit I wanted to do. He inspired everyone around him.

The first meeting of summer camp I watched him translate the announcements into 4 different languages. I looked as the faces of the confused campers eased. Someone understood them. Someone made them feel like they belonged. That was Jon’s purpose. To create a world where each of us fit, where each of us was valued and heard. Even as I write, I know that the things I say could never do him justice. Jon was a man of myth, the one that you started every story about, with “remember that one time Jon did….” insert any fantastic feat that seems too good to be true and Jon had done it. I remember when Jon was  beaten up by an angry lady with a mullet, when he allowed my cabin to shave his chest and make him into the best and hairiest Spanish woman at Ms. Medolark, serenaded me, taught me how to salsa ,lied to the hotel staff in London, saying we were newly married but couldn't sleep in the same bed simply so we could get an extra cot/pillows and sneak Matt, Simon and Sam Peach into our hotel room. I remember when he ate an entire container of mayonnaise for 5 bucks only to spend the next hour throwing up and never receive his payment. I also remember when Jon comforted the camper who had just lost their sister, when he stayed up all night with the kid who was too nervous to try speaking English in front of his new friends, Jon told him his stories about being bilingual and I watched the next day as that same boy taught each of his cabin mates words in Spanish, beaming with new found confidence. Jon was impossibly good in a world that seemed mediocre at best, but he never saw it that way. 

Jon loved life and everyone in it.A world without Jon, is not a world I want to live in. I take comfort in knowing that the impact Jon had on me,  he also had on the thousands of people he came into contact with. To say we lost a bright light is an understatement, I just need to remember we gained so much more. I am better because I knew him. I AM BRAVER,BECAUSE I KNEW HIM. I am the person I am because I knew him and for that I am forever grateful. Thank you Jon, for teaching me what it means to live. Thank you for teaching me that there are things greater than ourselves and thank you for loving each and every one of us, without question, without hesitation and with all of your heart. We love you too.

-Maggie