I first met Justin when he performed in the Bye Bye Birdie musical in middle school. He was one year older than me and I had been transferred to the same school because of a family emergency. After he performed, I remember asking my girlfriends if they knew him and could connect me to the star of that show who was really cute. I never thought it would happen but it did! I met him in a school hallway, we exchanged phone numbers, and that was enough for it to spiral into a beautiful friendship.
After that, we would each other's home phone numbers for weeks on end, annoying our parents and I remember that the conversations we had helped me heal through a lot of what I was experiencing as the time as a pre-teen. We'd make each other laugh, he would play beautiful piano numbers for me, and we'd have conversations for hours on end (until wed get in trouble with our parents haha) and it felt like we had known each other for forever. It was such a cheeseball/innocent childhood friendship that we even became boyfriend and girlfriend over the phone!
Before I knew it, my mom came to Rochester to pick me up and move us to Puerto Rico. I remember the last conversation I had with him and we were both so sad. I took my notebooks with me and years later, would come across I <3 Justin Reynolds scribbled on them--middle name and all. I used to make fun of his middle name and we'd laugh! When I saw these old notebooks, I'd always smile remembering him.
Every couple of years, he'd come to my mind and only God knows how often I tried to find him when social media became a thing. My dream was to reconnect to reminisce about our middle school memories and to thank him for helping me get through family situations that were out of my control. He never judged what I would share with him and was always so empathetic. He was such a good listener.
All these years later I searched again tonight and recognized his handsome face. I never knew he was a Latter-day Saint and the ironic thing is that when my family moved to Puerto Rico, we eventually joined the Church. Justin is probably laughing at the irony of that too.
I wish we could have reconnected later in life. His soul is so special and I was so happy to read about all that he accomplished in the time that he was with us. All these years later, the little girl inside of me always hoped for his happiness and it is clear that he left a positive and meaningful impact on everyone he came across at every opportunity in his life.
I'm so deeply thankful that I met you, Justin, even if it was for just a brief moment. I can't wait to catch up in heaven one day.
Heidi