“You’re kidding me, right?” I asked, gazing down the massive drop. Chris’s deep brown eyes surveyed the gap carefully, his leg rolling the weathered skateboard back and forth beneath him. Slowly, the solemn and concentrated look on his face turned into an all too familiar grin, radiating his tremendous confidence. For as long as I had known him, Chris had an unparalleled coolness to him, a kind of self-certainty that laid hidden beneath his humble exterior. In more ways than one, he was fearless. Chris was always the first to take the leap, knowing that he would regret it if he hadn’t. Everyday, his bright, exuberant smile stretched across his face, revealing one thing: Christopher Camarena had no regrets. “Is he really doing what I think he’s doing?” my friend Joel asked me. I could only shake my head in disbelief. Chris pushed back from the ledge and deftly weaved back and forth on his skateboard, quietly humming to himself. Suddenly, he whirled around on his board and came to a stop. Running his massive hands through his wiry black hair, he stepped off of the skateboard and took a deep breath, pursing his lips and puffing out his cheeks as he exhaled. He then shoved the skateboard out in front of him and trotted up to it before hopping on, as he always did. With one push from his powerful leg, Chris was hurling towards the gap, determination burning in his eyes. All of the sudden, Chris pushed the tail of the board to the ground, screeching to a halt. We stared at him in bewilderment. “Will you guys go down there to catch me at the end of the landing?” he asked. We had noticed how short and narrow the landing was, however, we had all failed to recognize the steel guardrail stationed at the end of it, leading to about a thirty foot drop. My buddies and I hurried down to the railing and stood in front of it, bracing ourselves to catch our friend before he could be thrown over it. Once again, Chris was back on his skateboard, barreling down the smooth black asphalt towards the gap. As he came up to the edge, he popped off of the ground and lifted his legs towards his chest, the board steady underneath him as wind pulled through his white collared shirt. Unfortunately, as he came down to land, Chris leaned back and the board shot out from underneath him like a bullet straight into the guardrail. But Chris was not down for very long. He hopped up onto his feet, smiling and laughing while blood oozed down his elbow. “I have it this time,” he said. This time, he hurried back to his starting position, laughing and shaking his head the whole time. He pushed the board out once again, pulled up his sagging jeans, and was yet again speeding towards the gap. We all watched as Chris crouched down, his olive-skinned hand brushing the ground. With picture perfect style, he popped the board and flew over the gap. His feet held the board close to him while he soared towards the ground. Touching down with no sign of worry or doubt, Chris had landed flawlessly! We all roared with excitement as Chris slammed into us and tackled us all to the ground. Finally coming to our feet, Chris wrapped his giant arms around the three of us and nearly squeezed the life out of us with an enormous bear hug and merely exclaimed, “I told you guys!” We hopped into our friend Ryan’s black Jeep, all bursting with excitement, talking about where to go next. I patted Chris on the back and looked at him as he gazed out the window towards the sunset. The last bit of sunshine hit his face and, as always, Chris beamed a brilliant smile.
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This next story is also from Nick and it was written as a request I had made to some of Chris' friends for stories of remembrance. It so wonderfully captures Chris' nature. I came to Rockhurst from Indian Hills Middle School looking for a fresh start and a new life. I knew absolutely no one at the school and felt like a scared little kid, lost in this huge and unfamiliar environment. Fortunately for me, Chris came to my rescue. At the Blue/White mixer, Chris and I were introduced to eachother. As I sat in the bleachers during the dance, Chris hopped on up the steps and sat right down next to me. "Nice shoes, do you skate?" he asked as he inspected my brand new Globe skate shoes. "Yeah," I said to him, "You too?" Chris merely smiled and nodded. Chris convinced me to come with him to the dance floor and immediately introduced me to his friends. This was not only the start of what would turn into an incredible friendship, but was also the new beginning that I had longed for by coming to Rockhurst. From that point on, I felt like I had finally found what I was looking for in my life. For a long time, Chris, Bobby, and myself hung out, solely the three of us. We would skate for hours at the Overland Park skatepark and then hoof it on over to Bobby's house for movies, videogames, or whatever had captured our interest at that particular time. Then, one October, Chris told me that he had invited a close friend of his over to come skate with us. "Oh yeah?" I said, "What's his name?" "Nathan Nicolace," Chris said with the all too familiar smirk on his face, "I think you will like him." And he was right. Nathan, Chris, Bobby and myself were inseperable from then on. I remember so clearly nights where the four of us would skate down to the Amco station not far from Chris' house to get food and would then proceed to invade the Camarena basement, inevitably waking up and upsetting either Bob or Mary Kay. Whether it was movie marathons, lightsaber fights, trampoline acrobatics, or one of the many unmentionables, we stuck together. Eventually, we came to call each other brother and, for the first time in my life, I completely understood what family meant. One night, Nathan, Bobby, and I were coming home from a party when we randomly decided to stop off at Hy-Vee. As we roamed the isles, I heard Bobby gasp. "Come here you guys," he said, "I have an idea." He was pointing at a large bag of flour. We came home with the flour and watched a movie, waiting for Chris to go to bed. Finally, Chris fell asleep, snugly wedged into the corner by the stairs in the basement. Bobby and I snuck over to get the flour and stood over our sleeping friend, both giggling like little girls, as Nathan watched from the couch. We both aimed and delivered, plastering the floor, walls, and Chris with flour. Incredibly, however, Chris did not budge! We stared in astonishment at the unmoving figure on the floor. Bobby and I looked at eachother, grinned, and then went back for more flour. "This time, we have to say 'Time for breakfast, b*tch!'" Bobby said. I nodded in agreement. We snuck up once more on our sleeping target. Bobby held up three fingers and began the countdown. Bobby only got to "breakf..." in our battle cry when Chris popped up and tackled me straight to the ground. Immediately, Bobby ran off screaming "It wasn't me!" Chris tore through the room, pushing Nathan into the couch before finally laying out in midair, taking Bobby down with this lightning quick maneuver. We all stood up, looked at each other, and burst out laughing. Chris' whole right side was completely covered in the white powder! This quickly turned into a flour fight in the basement. Suddenly, the door swung open, and Mrs. Camarena walked down the stairs. Her sleepy eyes looked around the room, and suddenly, the realization of what had happened dawned on her. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!" she yelled. At that point she caught a glimpse of her son, covered from head to toe in flour, and started laughing as she was yelling! We were told that we were not allowed to sleep over at their house ever again, a rule that lasted about 24 hours as we spent the night at their house the next day. However, with all the funny memories I have of Chris, I also have so many that have changed me forever. Chris was ays alwthere with a helping hand, much needed advice, or the huge bear hugs that he became famous for. Whenever something was going wrong, Chris was always there to help out. And in complete honesty, Chris ended up saving my life more than once because of it. Chris, I hope you know how much you meant to me. You showed me what life meant. I can never repay you for that, but I hope that I will make you proud in my actions. I love you as my family, my brother, and my friend and nothing will ever change that. Thank you for being you. I'll see you again someday, but until then, you will never leave my thoughts and my heart. As Always, Nicky J. HOME
I will always remember the first time that Chris and I met. I was out with my buddy Andrew in his 2001 PY "R" and I get a phone call from my brother saying for Andrew and I to come up to TBell (that’s what Chris called Taco Bell) off of 135th and Antioch. I was like why? He told me he just met up with a kid with a White Integra Type R. I was like what!?” Hell yea, we'll be right up there.” As soon as we got there, I see Chris next to his car with a smile on his face like always. I walked up to him and introduced myself; “Hi, my name is Brandson.” “O hey dude, my name is Chris.” From there I knew that we were going to get along just fine. He and I talked for a while about his car and how old he and I were. I was surprised that Chris was the same age as me. We exchanged numbers and he gave me his AIM screen name. The next day I called Chris up to see what he was doing for the night. He told me that some of the guys are coming over to his house to watch some movies and chill. I told myself not to invite myself cause that would be kind of rude of me, but instead Chris asked me if I wanted to come over and spend the night. I was like sure I would like that. Chris asked where I lived and I told him that I lived on Olathe. He said “Oh, you live in OTOWN.” “OTOWN?” I said. ” Yea, I call it OTOWN.” said Chris. So I gave him direction to my house and about 15 minutes later I see him pull up to my house with his beautiful White Integra Type R. As I got into the car, Chris said, “Wasup’ Bud!” That was the first time he has ever called me bud and I will never forget him saying that to me. From there on Chris and I became such good friends. I remember the time it was Chris, Nathan, and I, we were in the garage doing something to the "R" and as we were backing the "R" out, and we hear this bang and we all looked at each other like "Oh Crap". We all jumped out and noticed that a chunk of the front lip was torn off. Chris looked at me and I looked at him on what to do. We tried to pull the front lip off without letting Bob know (Cause we knew he would of gotten mad). Instead Mary Kay pulls up into the driver way and so we had no way out of this. So we were caught red handed. On the way out, Chris kept on asking himself. “How could I have done that, I have pulled out of my garage like a thousand times.” I just gave him a look like, I have no clue dude. On Thanksgiving break I gave Chris a call to see what he was doing and he said he was with the guys and Julie over at Bobby's old house. I was like OK I might show up. Chris ended up not telling any of the guys that I was coming over cause he knew that I was going to come over and he wanted me to surprise them. I soon as I got there, I rang the doorbell and I see Chris opening the door with the biggest smile of his life(I guess he was really happy to see me) as soon as I walked into the door way. Chris decides to jump onto my back and give me the biggest bear hug ever and I was like “hey man, you’re about to break my back.” Later on that night Chris asked me if I wanted to stay the night at his house I was like I don't know, I will have to ask my dad. Before I called my dad, I told Chris that he had to talk to my dad so my dad would say yes. He was like” NO DUDE! I'm scared of your dad.” I said no you aren't scared of my dad. He's like “ I know I'm not, but I'm scared of him for this moment.” and him and I started to laugh. But he ended up talking to my dad for me and I got to spend the night. Chris would do anything for me and I would have done the same no matter what came between us. He asked me if I could get him a job where I worked at and I said I would try my best. After begging my dad for two days he said FINE, that’s the only person. So I called Chris up and told him to come up and he got the job. Working with Chris was so much fun. I don't think there wasn't a moment that him or I weren't together or having cardboard fights. I will always think of Chris no matter the time of day it is. I loved Chris so much as a brother and a best friend. Brandson Keith Khongmaly
Uncle Bob~ I think about this everyday because it was the last time that I saw Chris and I really want people to know how awesome that he was to me, and how much he meant to me. On Friday December 10 I got a phone call from Chris at about 11 o'clock in the morning. He had called to get my Aunt Sheri's phone number at the salon because as he put it he had "grown an afro". He told me that he was coming to Salina that afternoon and that I had no choice but to get in my car and also come home. So I did and I remember being so excited because I hadn't seen him in a long while, and even though I talked to him on the phone sometimes it just wasn't good enough I had to see him. So by the time I got to Salina, Chris, Julie, Nathan, Aunt Sheri, and Emma were just leaving my house to go to the salon so Chris could get that mop cut off his head. I remember tripping over my shoe as I was walking over to give him a hug, and he said "Geez Alicia it's almost like you learned how to walk yesterday!" And I simply replied "Ya, Chris you know how I do it." That was always how we were joking around and simply stating the obvious for a good laugh. After they got back from the hair cut, I remember sitting at my dining room table with Julie, Chris, and Nathan as we shared our infamous college stories and laughed and ate and drank pop. For about 2 hours we laughed and told stories and just did the things that we always did. Then Chris got into his brotherly instinct with me as someone asked me about Brent (my boyfriend at the time) and I will never forget the sentence that he told me. He said, "You know it is so like you to pick the "winners" but don't worry in this family you'll never be able to find someone who is good enough. But let me tell you Alicia this one is so far from good enough it isn't even funny, seriously Alicia." And then we laughed it off and continued with our stories. My mom really wanted Chris, Julie, and Nathan to stay the night, but Chris insisted on going back to Manhattan. I'm afraid that he thought that had barged in, which was definitely not the case. As they were leaving and my dad was finishing up making fun of Julie, we walked out on to the front porch. The last thing that I ever told Chris was, "I can't believe that you get to get out of that stupid crap that we're doing for Christmas, but I guess that I'll see you in about 2 weeks then. Good luck on your finals, please drive careful." And he gave me that hug, the kind of hugs that he always gave me. The kinds that make you think that he never wants to let go. I really wish that I would have talked him into staying at our house that night, but he did leave me with that amazing smile and I'll never forget that. So there's my story Uncle Bob, I know that it is really hard to read it because it is really hard to write it. I think about you and Aunt Mary Kay and Caranne every day. I love you guys. Love~ Alicia
I met Chris through Aubry. At the time we were best friends. I remembered Aubry pointing out Chris's house saying that was her boyfriends place and she'd introduce us sometime....fate had another idea. That evening I was practicing driving a stick in the church parking lot behind Chris' house, when it died and wouldn't start. I didn’t have my cell phone and it was freezing so I walked up to Chris’ front door feeling like an idiot and knocked. Chris came to the door and looked at me with this I said to him "You're Aubrey’s boyfriend, I’m her friend and my car died can I use your phone"? He just laughed and let me in. A few days later I met Chris for real when he was having people over. I loved being around him instantly. From that day on he became my best friend. I dated a few of the guys he was friends with. I watched movies in his basement and i called him on a regular basis to complain and whine and he always listened and gave the best advice possible. Just hearing him say "It'll be ok Kell" made me feel like it would. This was all probably sophomore year of high school. The best night of my life was spent with him at Blue Valley North’s sweetheart. Everyone went- Chris, Nick, Joel, Ryan, me, Becca, Aubrey, Mackenzie and Ashley...it was great. I don’t think we stopped dancing for one minute. Another memory or tradition that I will miss very much was every valentine’s day Chris brought me a rose. For no reason even when he had a girlfriend... mainly cuz he knew I always dumped my boyfriends before the holiday but also because he knew how much I hated it. He made Valentine ’s Day for 3 years the best day ever. ow that we are up at college, I still find myself saying "one of my best guy friends is Chris..." or Topher as I called him. Everyone here knew him. He came down for my birthday in October and came down many weekends after and before just because probably I bugged him online that I never get to see the "boys" anymore. He always knew how to make me laugh, make me happy, and I never got the chance to thank him. Watching him skateboard over the summers and jumping on the trampoline that someone ended up falling through were some of the best days of my life...
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