Hello. Those of you out there who have been praying for my friend Zach Rabideau thank you. Hopefully he's looking down on us now and thanking us.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, one of my close friends, Zach Rabideau, died May 16th, 2001 due to a head injury from a quad runner accident. Take it from someone who knows, it's really hard to lose a friend. Take advantage of having friends around (don't take advantage of your friends, take advantage of the fact that they are there). NEVER lose touch with the good friends and influences in your life. My friend and I lost track over the last year or so and I've been wanting to get ahold of him but I never got around to it. Now it's real, I can't just call him and see how's he's doing.

Zach went to school at John L. Nash Middle School in Clifton. He was a really popular kid and liked by everybody. The 2000/2001 yearbook was dedicated to Zach. It had a picture of him and a caption on the first page. Since he would be in high school now they put a plaque with his picture on it in the high school. After his death his locker became a shrine. There were notes, flowers, pictures, peoms, and all kinds of things that attained to him. For example, one of Zach's nicknames was "Hobbs" so there were pictures of Calvin and Hobbs everywhere. Also, Zach was a juvenille diabetic so there were Skittles and all kinds of candy taped to his locker, on a lot of the notes it says, "Eat all the sugar you want." This "shrine" spread accross 5 lockers (of course his in the middle) and accross the tops of the lockers. On the floor in front of his locker was a bucket for flowers. There was such an excessive amount that there was no room on the lockers for them. The bucket was overflowing to the point that there were flowers lying on the floor. Here is a poem written by one of my friends, dedicated to Zach Rabiduea.

On Monday afternoon

School got out early

I got all my books

And left in a hurry

When I got home

I called my friend

To see if he could come over again

He came on over

We were having a blast

Not knowing that it would be my last

My friend and I went to the shed

To get my four-wheeler

Which would cause my deathbed

We were having a ball

When we went on a ramp

The lights went out

Like a turned off lamp

I woke up to realize

I was lying on the ground

With sadness, horror and fear all around

A helicopter came

And took me away

Knowing that I may not grow-up someday

I'm in my hospital bed now

Not knowing what to do

I'm trying with all my might

To make myself pull through

I feel myself getting weaker

It is time for me to go

I wonder what my life would be like

But now I'll never know

I'll miss you mom

I'll miss you dad

I'm sorry for making you both so sad

I wish I could have relived that day

So I could make everything okay

Don't cry when I leave

Be happy

Don't grieve

God is here now

To take me away

Remember me in your hearts

And in your hearts I will stay

-----By: Alissa Mazurkiewicz