6:52 am: axel lost his long battle with cancer last friday.
yesterday at 7 pm we attended axel's service at santa maria catholic church. we had never been to a hispanic service which obviously was conducted completely in spanish. the church was packed, mostly with family friends and relatives, who appeared so connected that they seemed to be one organism.
there was a group of singers and musicians, and lots of beautiful hymns in which the entire congretation participated. i could pick out some familiar words, like muerte, dios, christos and axel's name. this made it all the more moving and allowed me to be with my memories of this extraordinary boy named axel.
greif concelors are being provided by the school for any of the students who feel they need help processing the death of their friend and fellow student.
as i mentioned to several of his teachers, i have at home some excellent footage i shot of him back in november, talking about the project he was working on, which he would have presented at the school showcase in mid may. as soon as we return home, i plan on reviewing the footage so i can edit a short piece for the family.
a week before he passed, a fellow student was visiting him in the hospital. as they played video games, he observed that she was very sad. "don't worry," he said, comforting her, " i've done everything i wanted to do. i'm ready." that was axel.