Hi,

My name is Kayla Sutherland and I was friends with Ashley for quite sometime.  I met her on my first day of school in Nanaimo when I was 10 and we were friends from that moment on.  I was only at your house a few times with Ashley but the times that I was there were always fun and your family was always so welcoming.  I saw the edition to the website about memories with Ashley and I wanted to share a few of mine.  I hope that you enjoy reading about my memories with her as much as I enjoyed making them.  Thank you so much for sharing her with us.

I met Ashley on my first day at Mountain View when I was in grade 5.  It had been a very overwhelming morning, when I walked into my classroom all of the kids just rushed to the door to meet the new girl.  Finally at recesses I was a given a bit of space and the opportunity to talk with Ashley a bit more.  She looked at me and laughing said “Don’t worry, they aren’t always this crazy” and I couldn’t help but laugh back.  Out of all the things people said to me that day that is the one thing I have always remembered, it really helped to just relax a bit, which was definitely what I needed.  From that moment on myself along with Ashley, Melissa, and Julia became inseparable.  We spent many hours on the school swing set, Ashley could always swing much higher then I could.  We also made these nicknames for each other.  I don’t remember whose idea it was, but someone thought it would be funny if we all had candy nicknames, Ashley was Aero, Melissa was Mars Bar, Julia was Jube Jube, and I was Kit Kat.  Even years later in high school we still called each other those names. 

One of my favorite memories with Ashley was at Melissa’s 12^th birthday party. It was just the 4 of us and we thought it would be really fun to dress up as the Teletubbies.  Just when I thought that my costume was finally complete Ashley pulled me into the bathroom and whipped out the eyeliner, apparently I need the dimple that my Teletubbie had.

Sadly around grade 10 we faded a bit, it wasn’t that we had anything against one another, it was just the simple fact that we had no classes together.  No matter what happened when we talked it was like nothing had changed.  I remember one time her boyfriend said something and she was upset.  After I found out I wanted to ring his neck, I couldn’t believe that anyone would hurt my friend Ashley.  I got so worked up and Ashley just sat there laughing at me. She thought it was sweet that I loved her enough to want to smack this guy but she also said it was a good thing that he wasn’t at school that day.

One thing that I will always remember about Ashley is our walks up the hill together.  Even thought we had faded a bit we always sat together on the bus rides home from school and we walked up the hill together.  We would talk about the most random things, like how she and Julia liked to compare me to the Energizer Bunny because I have so much energy.  When we were in grade 9 we started a tradition, on the first snow of every year if we were at school we would go the JP after getting off the bus and go to the JP to get ice cream.  We would always laugh because we were already so cold but then we would eat ice cream.   

In January 2006 I had started to see a lot more of Ashley.  I saw her a lot in the Malaspina lower cafeteria.  I was also enrolled in a trades program and we would often run into each other during our lunch hours.   

The last time I talked to Ashley was at the bus stop.  She was on her way up to the college to do her hair and I asked her if she would do my hair for the Miss Nanaimo Pageant.  The pageant wasn’t until September but she immediately had a ton of ideas, I was so amazed at how quickly they came to her.   

You were such an amazing girl Ashley and you touched so many people.  You always appreciated the little things in life and that is just one of the many things that I love about you.  I wish that you could still be with us but I know that it is only a matter of time before I will meet you again. 

Love Always

Kayla

AKA: Your Kit Kat Bar