03/31/2026
To take a break from our regularly scheduled program, this is a special piece from my final project (and book) at SCAD.
Agape (ah-GAH-pay) is a word of Ancient Greek origin that translates, roughly, to selfless, unconditional, or divine love. While it is often used in religious contexts to define the love between humans and God, I am using it to represent the highest form of love that one can experience or evoke.
As I came of age, an era of my life began which showed me what it meant to lose. I was raised between two families full of adults and the elderly. This set me up for life in ways that I simply could not have imagined as an adolescent. An unconditional love from my family and friends provided me with a perfect system to see the rights and wrongs about navigating growing up in the modern world. Realistically, I couldn’t ask for more. Still, though, our lives ebb and flow.
In my first year of college I slowly lost my grandmother, Evangeline, to pancreatic cancer. She was the first and only person in my immediate family that I’ve ever lost. In the wake of her passing I learned a lot about her life, what she did, and how she was a monumental force of life for everyone she touched. As I looked inward I came to better understand the power of love in the connections we share with everyone. It is what moves us forward and brings us life, time after time.
That day of loss was four years ago today. My grandmother funded mine and my sister’s college education and we’ve both come out of it facing forward to become better for ourselves and the people in our lives. We are blessed and do our best with all the love we’ve learned from our angels.