Growing up, I had always heard the cliche that "All good things must come to an end." The problem is that the end for most good things is rarely expected or on a timeline that we want. This week, another good thing is coming to an end. Thursday will be the last music video that my favorite musician, Christina Grimmie, will, unfortunately, ever release.
I can still remember when I had discovered her music. It was Thanksgiving of 2010 at a complicated stage of my life. A month prior to discovering her music I was rushed to the hospital after a football accident. After having to go see a specialist, Dr. Beam discovered that I had an autoimmune disorder. This event completely flipped my life on its head. I was a 16-year-old kid who, until my disorder was in check, was not allowed to play the sport that he had wrapped his identity around. Football was where I spent all of my free time. When it got taken away from me, I had to find a new way to spend my time. I turned to discovering music to fill the time. At the time, Nelly’s “Just a Dream” was my favorite song. I followed the YouTube rabbit hole. We have all been there before. You log onto YouTube and several videos later you are watching some video that has nothing to do with the original video you started off on. That is how I happened to come across Zeldaxlove64, Christina Grimmie’s YouTube account, covering “Just a Dream” with Sam Tsui and instantly fell in love with her voice. Little did I know that that moment a little over five years ago would be a major changing point in my life. I could not wait for her latest covers because, for those few minutes, I had an escape from the flurry of emotions I had going on.
As my health continued to improve, I continued to listen to her weekly covers, completely mesmerized by the talent that this girl possessed. A couple of years later, she competed on The Voice, finishing third. While she did not win the competition, her career skyrocketed after that show.This past February, Christina had posted on her twitter that she needed extras for her music video "Without Him" from her new EP. Luckily, I had no classes the day that she shot the video so I drove to Dallas to the theater that she was filming the video. After we waited outside the theater, they allowed us in to see her film her performing. Filming finally wrapped up around 9 or so that night, and due to filming going long, the staff tried to escort us out promptly following the final take. The experience was a once in a lifetime experience. I had printed off a small poster for her to sign and I approached the man who I later found out if I could have her sign my poster. Not only did she sign my poster, but I got the opportunity to talk to her for a few minutes. 
A couple days later, my best friend, Barrett, came into town to go to her concert with me to celebrate my 21st birthday. It was a great time with my friend and some people I had met a couple nights before at the music video shoot. After the concert, she went to meet all of her fans, or as she called us, frands. I was the last person in line to meet her. I was positive that I was not going to get to meet her again because she had to leave to go to Austin for her next show. She waited until she met everybody before she left. She smiled when I walked up to her and had remembered my story. I took a couple of pictures with her and my friend. 
She was one of the sweetest and most genuine people I had ever met in my life. She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. Her life was ended prematurely in Orlando when a man shot and killed her during a meet and greet in June. This tragedy was the start of the final chapter of her career.
September 1st will be the final music video, "Without Him", from her "Side A" EP, which is being released as a sort of miniseries. It will be the last time that we see this up-and-coming talent release one of her works of passion. While this is supposed to be the final music video, with the exception of something possibly coming for the soundtrack from her upcoming movie, "The Matchbreaker", her one bright flame will still shine brightly through the collection her music and memories that everyone had made for her. It is the end of a great era and one that I am glad I was able to witness and be a part of. If she was still here, I am sure she would be most excited that all of her fans loved all of the previous music videos so far and the one about to be released. Rest in Peace Christina \|/.
