Friday, May 15, 2009
“It’s not complicated; it’s simple: I love them.” My sister listed this as one of her Favorite Quotations on her Facebook profile, and if there is one quote that my sister embodied, it’s this one.
It comes from an episode of the television show Kyle XY, a show that she and my mom always watched together. In that episode, a character who is protecting Kyle asks him why he would want to return to the family who initially took him in, knowing how much more complicated and difficult that would make his life. It’s in response to this character’s question that Kyle makes that statement: “It’s not complicated; it’s simple: I love them.”
My sister was one of those people who, like Kyle, found nothing complicated about making a decision when it came to those whom she loved. When someone needed her, she would be there, in some cases staying up deep into the early morning hours trying to help out her friends. Even when she wasn’t directly needed, she was still there, volunteering at Winchester Hospital and participating in the Assumption Disability Awareness Promotion Team. She was hoping to continue living a life of service to others by entering the field of Organizational Psychology.
This passion for others grew out of an even deeper passion she had for life. All of those who met Alyssa were immediately struck by how full of life she was. She loved animals, feeding the ducks at her college and hoping to have a dog someday. She loved music, listening to favorite artists such as Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton constantly, and playing the violin and saxophone. And she was an extremely dedicated student who deeply cared about the quality of her academic work.
I would now like to turn to more personal memories.
Honestly, my sister and I were pretty weird kids. In a good way. Looking back, I can recall a bunch of creative projects she and I worked on together. We recorded an infinite amount of songs—both originals and covers—on old cassette recorders and computers; we directed, filmed, and edited incredibly goofy home videos, including a stuffed animal Rick Roll parody; and we built and inhabited worlds we constructed out of LEGO bricks, populated with strange beings that included Star Wars characters, parrots, knights, and emperors.
There were also all of the other brother/sister things we did together, such as collecting small plastic eggs around our house on Easter; playing Nintendo Wii Tennis; playing out in the snow; and having long conversations in our kitchen, at the Burger King in Reading, and during family gatherings. One of my favorite recent memories I have of the both of us takes place in the kitchen of our family’s house, where she valiantly taught me how to make pancakes. Even though we were working from a premade mix, I, a non-cook, embarrassingly had much difficulty flipping the pancakes over. Alyssa simply smiled good-naturedly, laughed along with me, and remained infinitely patient and helpful until I successfully finished making the pancake.
As a family, there were an infinite amount of activities my dad, mom, sister, and I participated in together. Among other things, we had nightly family dinners, went on vacations, decorated our house for Christmas, attended each others’ events, had a formal family portrait taken wearing Groucho Marx glasses and fake noses, went camping, and put out the infamous annual Nanopoulos family Christmas card. As all of our lives have continued to change over the years, one thing has remained constant in my family: each of us have continued to unwaveringly, unconditionally, and lovingly support each other, no matter what happens.
I know for certain that my sister made a considerable impact on an innumerable amount of people, and that an innumerable amount of people made an impact on her. Here, I want to acknowledge Alyssa’s larger family, many members of whom are present today. She had many incredible people in her life, including our entire extended family, her friends, all of those whom she met through all of the activities she participated in, and all of those who were in her life, whether directly or indirectly, because of my father, my mother, or myself.
Another essential part of this larger family consists of the schools at which Alyssa studied and grew, including Tall Spire, the Franklin School, Galvin Middle School, Austin Preparatory School, and Assumption College. All five of these institutions provided her with the education and support that enabled her to become an even more brilliant student and person.
I ask members of both her immediate and larger families, in leaving here today, to take one of my sister’s favorite quotes with you: “It’s not complicated; it’s simple: I love them.” The greatest lesson that my sister taught us all was that, every day, we must do whatever we can to live out our love for one another. Indeed, in all of the support my family has received over the past few days, I have seen this in practice. Going forward, I ask that you not only continue to remember the love that Alyssa gave to all of us but also continue to extend that love, as well as the love that you all have shown my family, to all of the people who are important to you, every day, for the rest of your lives. None of us have much control over how much time we have on this earth, but we can and should actively shape the time we do have here. Going forward, we will all continue to remember the individual, personal memories we have of my sister Alyssa. At the same time, we must all remember that the one thing we all have in common when we think of my sister is that it’s not complicated; it’s simple: we love her.
Michael Nanopoulos