Phillip Besand
I have a lot of good memories of Xander. He was just the most joyful kid, helpful to our troop, always doing the craziest things. There was the time he accidentally set off a grease fire and Tristan had to put it out, or climbing all of the tallest trees in the woods, or chicken fights with him and the smaller boys. There were the chill conversations in our tents at night where we would talk and talk about anything, it didn't matter. There were the moments we would all chill by riversides or lakes and skip rocks. We would listen to music together in the middle of the night before we went to sleep before starting a new day. He was always ready to help, always ready to goof off and always had a big smile on his face. There was the cold nights at wintercamp where his tent was collapsed so he would stay with a few of us, and of course the next day we had snow in our shoes because we left them outside, but it didnt get him too down. There were hot summer nights where we would all play mafia together and he was always involved and cheerful. I remember one moment that really just reminds me of how much he had a positive influence on me. At wintercamp we were trying to rehearse a skit and I got frustrated because we couldnt stop laughing at it (especially him of course) and I stormed off. He was one of the first people to come see if I was okay. We talked about things that annoyed us, things that got us down but also how we could get through them. I never saw any of this coming, but believe me when I say that theres nothing I wouldn't do to just have one more campout with him, to see his smiling face and be lit up by his joy. I love you bro, and I'll see you again someday.
Until then,
-Phillip Besand
