Hannah Falcon

Significant moments in our lives pass us by without us noticing; and we don’t figure it out until they’re already gone. We walk around aimlessly, searching for a way to keep up with what’s ahead and the things we left behind. We miss so many things when we don’t value them while they’re there. The same goes for people, and that’s definitely how I feel about Hannah.

She is the midnight train in a starless New York City. She is the shooting star that streaks across the sky. She is the double rainbow in the distance and the heaven in the sunrise that can only be seen in the early hours of a new day. She is the snow that melts into rain, the wind before a storm. She is inadmissible, incomparable, unable to be ignored. She is the single thing that has to be taken while it’s there. If you miss it, if you miss her, that’s it.

She is what it means to chase life, to grab it by the coattails and hold on until the end. She is chasing stars, she is defying gravity, she is every entity as fresh and fleeting as it be.

I’m happy to say I never missed her. I never passed her by or ignored just how valuable every memory with her would be. I never missed the opportunity to know her and call her my friend. Without knowing her, I would’ve been stuck searching for loose ends with no way to complete them. I know I’m not missing anything because I have her in my life. There aren’t any loose ends or important pieces that I’m leaving behind.

I burned all of my necessary bridges in the past year. I disconnected myself from all of the things that I knew would hurt me in the end. I thank God that Hannah isn’t and will never be one of those things. There are no bridges to burn with her. There are no ends to meet. Everything is in place and everything has a place. There’s no room for misguided attempts at happiness or shots in the dark for peace. I caught her when I had the chance, because I knew that if I didn’t, I knew that if I missed it, I’d never get that chance again.

You can’t bargain with people like her. You can’t pretend that she isn’t as rare, priceless, and beautiful as she is. You can’t ignore her inevitability, you can’t deny her radiance. She’s not something you can miss. It’s as if the sun, the moon, and stars, bowed down in the awe of she, as if they knew that without her, the world would be incomplete.

Hannah McClain, you are The Valley’s irreplaceable. You’ve always been around to make me laugh and be apart of a friendship that means the world to me. You cannot be replicated in any form, feeling, or being.

Honestly, we’ve been through alot. I never really thought about just how much until now. You’ve talked me out of a lot of stupid things. You’ve made me smile on some pretty painful days. You are growing into a phenomenal person. I will definitely be in tears at your graduation. I’m proud to know you, lucky to have you, and I pray I never lose you. I know that I annoy the hell out of you. I promise I’m doing it on purpose.

Heart of mine, you mean so much to me. Thank you for being irreplaceable. I’m blessed and I’m honored to be in your life. Here’s to moments we never missed and memories we have yet to make.