Forever Mario

In My Honor

My memory….

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by Kassandra Rosemar Sejas-Padilla

Every story comes with different sides/perspectives, here is mine. A year ago today started off like any another day, some pep band event in the early morning, followed by a group trip to the Chick-fil-A on campus to swipe as many chicken sandwiches possible. After “pepping” for several hours in the sun and filling up your stomach, one deserves a cold shower and a nice long nap. **Earlier that day plans were made to go to Shyndigz later that night** After waking up from my nap, I call home and talk to my parents to check in and let them know what I had planned for the night. Then, my roommate and I hopped in the car and headed to our friends place to pick him up. That was when I received the phone call about my cousins passing from my dad. You would not believe how many times I replay in my head what my dad said. My world stopped. Nothing made sense anymore. I was confused and could not move. I kept apologizing to my friend and roommate about not being able to follow through with our plans. I just wanted to get my sister and drive home as soon as possible to be with my family. Whatever happened between then and getting my sister from her dorm is all a blur, but what happened afterwards I remember vividly.
The drive home was quiet. Our main focus was getting home. After what seemed like forever on the road home, we finally arrived to my cousins house and that’s when reality hit me.

I’m not going to lie, this past year has been pretty tough for all of us and I don’t think it’ll get easier, but the memory of you keeps us going.

I love and miss you cuzzo.

#22UntilNone

Eulogy for Mario

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For those of you who do not know me, my name is Alexander and I am lucky to consider myself one of Mario’s closest friends. It is with great sadness that I stand in front of you today to celebrate the life of my friend. Mario’s life was taken away from us too soon and it is hard to understand why tragic things like this happen to such good people. However, this is a question without an answer and we should not dwell on the loss of our dear friend, son and brother. We are here today to celebrate his life remembering all of the remarkable things Mario accomplished and how wonderful his life was. He was always there when I needed someone to talk to. I will always look back with dearest memories and how thankful I am getting to know Mario so well.

A few of my fondest memories is the time in 7th grade where Mario would change clothes next to me on the bus every day because he was going through an “emo” phase. He would change into super skinny all black jeans because his parents didn’t like him wearing them. And the first time he changed next to me on the bus I asked him if anything was wrong, and he told me why he had to change on the bus, and I kind of understood what his parents were thinking but he is my best friend so I had nothing but adoration for him. After he was done with his emo/skinny jean phase he begun to wear silkies for whom that never saw him wearing them, they are super short green shorts, and at first all I could think was one extreme to another but he is my best friend and as long as he is happy how could I care. He soon got known for running everywhere in them and they became his thing, his own unique style.

One more memory I would like to share with you today is the time Mario and me almost fought each other. It was in 8th grade and we were both in the same P.E. class and were playing football and him being on the other team we had a bit of a competition going on. All I remember is hitting Mario on the neck to as if let him know I was on the other team. Little did I know at the time was that I hit him quite hard and that afternoon after school he retaliated after we had gotten off the bus. I was walking home and usually we walked together but I couldn’t find Mario, next thing I know someone slaps the back of my neck really hard and of course it was Mario and he had made his move. I remember when he slapped my neck he was laughing hysterically with his goofy, and infectious laugh. I tried to catch up to him so I could return what he had just done to me but I was overweight and out of shape. The next morning at the bus stop we didn’t talk to each other and didn’t sit with each other on the bus. When the bus finally arrived at school we begun to exit the bus and as we were exiting I tried to slap Mario on the neck again to return what he had done to me the previous day and as soon as I did that Mario tried to slap me in the face. Next thing I know people stopped us. We were so angry at each other that we had agreed to fight after we get off the bus that day but it never happened and we both walked our separate ways home. Later that week Mario called me asking if I still wanted to be friends and I told him that’s all that I wanted and that I didn’t even know why we were truly fighting. And ever since then we never fought and never where far apart from each other.

Mario was incredibly kind, intelligent, caring, and one of the best people I know. I knew that I could trust him with anything and I respected him more than words can ever express. It is incredibly sad that Mario’s life ended so soon & unexpected and I cannot put into words how much I will miss him. Mario was always such a happy person and he would not want us to be sad today. If he were here, he would tell us to cheer up, smile and remember all of the great memories we all shared.

Even though Mario may be gone from here, he is connected with all of us on higher ground, and lives in our heads and hearts forever. I know Mario wants all of us to keep in touch with each other through his website at FOREVERMARIO.com

Mario I appreciate your friendship and I will never forget you.