Today I learned that someone I cared about had died. Kristy was one of our interns at my office. An Arizona native, she was having some mental health issues and was spending some time in Vermont at an area facility. (She had a blog in which much of this information was public, so it’s OK to tell about it.) When she had free time she would come in to ORCA and help with projects, editing, shooting, etc. It was great; she was extremely competent, self-driven and really in her element when she was here. She had a broad smile that would make you melt if you only coax it out of her. She was only 25. Kristy was definitely our favorite here.
We had not seen much of her since mid-December, as she experienced a setback and had to leave to go to a more intensive location out of state. She returned to Vermont a few days after New Years and came in to see us at ORCA. Little did we know it was for the last time.
Kristy then spent a couple weeks intensive at the local site, where she was required to spend her time on-campus. During that time, she continued to update her blog, so we were at least able to keep up with how she was doing. However things were apparently not going as well as she thought, and she left for Arizona again, by car, with her dad.
Kristy journaled in her blog during the week-long trip and wrote all about the places they were stopping. She was looking forward to seeing her family, her animals and being back home, but she missed Vermont. She wrote about missing us, missing some of our studio guests, and wishing she had stopped by to say goodbye to us.
This Monday, less than a week after arriving in Arizona she went for a walk in the desert and disappeared. Her body was found on Wednesday, February 4.
It is hard to imagine what Kristy was going through. She wrote about it pretty freely, but kept it in when she was among friends. It is hard to imagine what her family is going through, and my thoughts are with them. I can speak for myself and my colleagues when saying that we loved her at least as much as she loved us.
