Kavi was the first person I met before attending Michigan for undergrad. We met the summer before starting school while I was visiting family in Houghton where our serendipitous friendship unfolded (Kavi was actually forced to hang out with me by both our moms). He brought me to his friends house and introduced me to guitar hero and took me to the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight. He was outgoing and kind and made me feel far less terrified to move to a state where I knew very few people. Upon arrival to Ann Arbor I started to rely on his crazy genius brain to help me survive learning C++ in engineering 101 and he graciously kept me afloat. He met my gaggle of brown girls (AKA my roommates and bffs) and instantly developed friendships with all of them individually. He could become close to anyone and I sincerely admire that about him. My roommates and I especially loved keeping tabs on Kavi’s love life-primarily because it was farrrrrrr more entertaining than any of ours. When I say entertaining I really mean-extreme? sincere? overthetopcrazy? When he loved someone he reallllly loved them. There really was no in between. Drama always ensued and there were many many many giggles. He blushed like a newborn baby and it was glorious. LOVE YOU FOREVER

I remember going over to his house as a kid after school and the first thing we would do is go into his pantry. It was a WALK-IN pantry that had all the snacks and goodies you could imagine. Our usual snacks of choice? Some days it was Oreos and milk. Other days, it was Fruit by the Foot and Doritos. Once we felt re-energized by our snacks, we would go have fun. Some days, it was the Super Nintendo and Donkey Kong. As we got older we would go down the hall to the computer room and play Where in the World is Carmen San Diego or Jump Start 4th grade.

As we got older we made new friends and our friend group increased in size and everything we did, we did as a group. Sleepovers, game nights, and movie nights were common within our group of friends. Once I moved into my new house behind Shopko in middle school, I remember inviting Kavi and all my friends over for sleepovers and game nights all the time.

But, despite all the great memories, my fondest memories of Kavi will always be when we were young kids; when we were in kindergarten and elementary school, playing Donkey Kong, wrestling in the living room, and eating Oreos with milk. Because those are the memories of Kavi that I share with no one else and those experiences are unique to only him and I.

Kavi and I grew up eventually, as we all do. We went to high school, graduated college, and met countless of friends and peers along the way.

But there was once a time, in the very beginning, when it was just him and I. And it is that time that I will always cherish the most.