His Infinite Identity

Written by Jake McDevitt

     In 5th grade, I shared every single class with Graham, so, as you can imagine, we became pretty close. 

     One weekend, Graham invited me, Leighton Williams, and Keas Zwack to his house. We were going to spend the night, just hanging out. We started off in his pool, just playing with his dog, Vita. She loved running around the pool and chasing us; dashing around the pool, cutting corners, etc. Graham urged Vita to not jump in. She jumped in. She also pooped. 

     Graham helped us all get out of the pool and grabbed soap for us to wash off with. Something as simple as that—getting soap for us to clean ourselves up—stuck with me throughout our entire friendship. Graham never ceased to stand by and help his friends, regardless of what happened. I felt this time and time again over the past couple of years, with him being there for me time and time again, even when I was probably in the wrong. And when I was just completely in the wrong, he stayed. 

     We went inside following our cleanup and began eating chicken nuggets and talking to his Amazon Alexa, asking random questions and playing weird songs. This went on for two hours, with Graham, and his creative mind, coming up with funnier and funnier ideas to ask Alexa about, keeping us laughing the entire time. 

     As we got more and more tired, Graham pulled out a mattress for us to sleep on, but came up with a new idea—to ride it down his stairs. I was terrified, Graham was not. I never came to understand how he got over his fears so easily, every single time, but he simply did. In an attempt to dispel my fears, Graham put down pillows at the bottom of the staircase, and he and I hopped on. As we started the rocky ride down, I felt every bone shake in my body, but, when I looked over at Graham, he was staring forward with such visible excitement that I couldn’t help but smile, and I still can’t help it. 

     Every time I did something with Graham that initially seemed scary, the look on his face and his aura of pure excitement allowed me to conquer any of my fears—as long as he was with me. He taught me more than that, of course, but his never-ending fearlessness stuck with me. This fearlessness sparked so much passion inside of him and allowed him to constantly, endlessly, be himself. This sense of self inspired his confidence to show his complex, incredible, heart. His heart embodied his unique, infinite identity. It was always more than just the mattress: it was pure and boundless passion.