i spent a little over a year working with kris at the creamery, an ice cream shop in our city. he was a year younger than me, about sixteen. we didn't attend the same high school and didn't have a lot in common - we simply worked together for an entire summer and school year. outside of work, i didn't know a lot about kris. he was close to his family, talked about his friends and his girlfriend a lot and was active in his church. but at work, i knew him well.
kris was probably one of the most uplifting people who i have known. he loved to joke around, often blockading one of us into the huge walk-in freezer where all the ice cream was kept. he was a tall guy with smiling brown eyes and sideburns that he grew really long. he had so much energy and was always the first to do the jobs the rest of us hated, such as cleaning out the bathrooms or taking out the huge bags of sticky trash. i loved nights that i got to work with him. they went by fast and were fun. plus, he was the only boy working at the creamery, so i felt safe when i walked out the door, sometimes around midnight, to go home.
i remember one night in particular. i came in at 5:00 p.m. that night to work the closing shift with kris and melanie. it was a hot summer day, and i was in a terrible mood, not at all looking forward to the night ahead. kris could tell right away i was in a bad mood and tried to cheer me up, but it was pretty much to no avail. i had decided that it was just going to be a rotten day, and there was nothing anyone could do to change that. we finished up early, took out the trash and were walking to our cars after saying goodnight. suddenly, i heard someone chasing after me. before i could turn around to see who it was, kris had picked me up and successfully turned me over so that he was holding me in the air upside down. i screamed until he finally let go, and i yelled at him, asking what in the heck he was doing. his reply was that he had to get me to smile at least once that night.
"well," i told him, "it didn't work. i didn't smile."
"yes, you did," he said. "you just had to be upside down to see it." he was basically implicating that my frown had been turned upside down. he flashed me a smile and said goodnight, and i smiled all the way home.
after a year and a half at the creamery, i decided i wanted to move on, so i wasn't there the night it happened. on july 15, 1999, they had just finished closing and kris was the only one behind the store when he got into his car around 11:00 p.m. he never made it out of the parking lot.
i was eating breakfast and watching the news the following morning. i listened with absolute terror as the reporter recounted the story. "a seventeen-year-old boy was the victim of a random act of violence last night. two fifteen-year-old boys and a seventeen-year-old boy are in custody for what was appears to have been an attempted carjacking in old colorado city." my heart stopped, my whole body went numb, and i knew even before his picture flashed on the screen and she said his name. "kristopher lohrmeyer died instantly from a single gunshot wound to the head."
something changed for me that night. kris died. i realized that nothing in our future is certain. the only thing i am ever going to have control over is my own attitude. and the most important thing i can do is to open my heart to everyone, just as kris did to all of us. and it is because of him that i now know how to turn my own frowns upside down.
kris was probably one of the most uplifting people who i have known. he loved to joke around, often blockading one of us into the huge walk-in freezer where all the ice cream was kept. he was a tall guy with smiling brown eyes and sideburns that he grew really long. he had so much energy and was always the first to do the jobs the rest of us hated, such as cleaning out the bathrooms or taking out the huge bags of sticky trash. i loved nights that i got to work with him. they went by fast and were fun. plus, he was the only boy working at the creamery, so i felt safe when i walked out the door, sometimes around midnight, to go home.
i remember one night in particular. i came in at 5:00 p.m. that night to work the closing shift with kris and melanie. it was a hot summer day, and i was in a terrible mood, not at all looking forward to the night ahead. kris could tell right away i was in a bad mood and tried to cheer me up, but it was pretty much to no avail. i had decided that it was just going to be a rotten day, and there was nothing anyone could do to change that. we finished up early, took out the trash and were walking to our cars after saying goodnight. suddenly, i heard someone chasing after me. before i could turn around to see who it was, kris had picked me up and successfully turned me over so that he was holding me in the air upside down. i screamed until he finally let go, and i yelled at him, asking what in the heck he was doing. his reply was that he had to get me to smile at least once that night.
"well," i told him, "it didn't work. i didn't smile."
"yes, you did," he said. "you just had to be upside down to see it." he was basically implicating that my frown had been turned upside down. he flashed me a smile and said goodnight, and i smiled all the way home.
after a year and a half at the creamery, i decided i wanted to move on, so i wasn't there the night it happened. on july 15, 1999, they had just finished closing and kris was the only one behind the store when he got into his car around 11:00 p.m. he never made it out of the parking lot.
i was eating breakfast and watching the news the following morning. i listened with absolute terror as the reporter recounted the story. "a seventeen-year-old boy was the victim of a random act of violence last night. two fifteen-year-old boys and a seventeen-year-old boy are in custody for what was appears to have been an attempted carjacking in old colorado city." my heart stopped, my whole body went numb, and i knew even before his picture flashed on the screen and she said his name. "kristopher lohrmeyer died instantly from a single gunshot wound to the head."
something changed for me that night. kris died. i realized that nothing in our future is certain. the only thing i am ever going to have control over is my own attitude. and the most important thing i can do is to open my heart to everyone, just as kris did to all of us. and it is because of him that i now know how to turn my own frowns upside down.
jessie williams
chicken soup for the teenage soul on tough stuff: stories of tough times and lessons learned... copyright © 2001 by jack canfield and mark victor hansen... pages 136 - 138
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