I am in high school in this photo. There was only one house between his and mine, but that didn’t stop me from calling him “the boy next door.”

I am sitting on Keith’s back porch. It was very early in our relationship. We’d been dating for about six months. I was waiting for him to get ready. We were headed to one of his extended family gatherings. I don’t remember who took this photo, and I’m not sure I even realized I was being photographed. I discovered it among his mother’s things when we were sorting her belongings after she died. I stared at it trying to imagine what I was thinking and why I looked so wistful.

I loved everything about him. Still do.