Friends of Lake Little lean on each other

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)-  The best thing about our local communities is that most people know each other, grow up together, celebrate, and grieve together.

That’s happening this week in Starkville. It seems the entire town is mourning Lake Little, a recent high school graduate. She died in a plane crash Saturday. Too young. Too soon.

They always imagined themselves this way. But in a split second everything changed. And for Becca Breckenridge and Caden Cutshall – their group of three is now a group of two.

“It’s definitely been hard, just spending the night, last night we were talking about how weird it was,” said Becca.

“Not to have that third person,” said Caden.

“Because like I said, she was just part of the crew, she always was, kind of like, the life of the party, she kept everybody together and you know she was always the loudest one,” said Becca.

Halfway between high school and college, this summer, they said she was doing what she loved.

“She was so passionate about it. When we were younger she would always say, I just don’t have my niche, all of y’all know what you want to do, but I just don’t know. And then we went on an Italy trip together, and in two weeks when we got back she had discovered her love for flying and then she just took off with it,” said Caden.

“You know, flying, I feel like was kind of cool that she come into that because my dad flies planes too. So she would always come over here and love to talk to him about everything that was going on. And he was the one that had gotten her interested in the Civil Air Patrol because she was saying how she was thinking about being in the Air National Guard, and my dad was like this would be a great step for you,” said Becca.

Becca and Caden sayidLake was always honest and always had their best interest at heart.

“She would always just tell us exactly what she thought about whatever we were doing,” said Becca.

“If we needed to hear it and we didn’t want to,” said Caden.

“I mean sometimes it was tough to hear what she had to say, but in the end, she was always right about it,” said Becca.

“She was just looking out for us,” said Caden.

“She truly always had our back,” said Becca.

“She was a good friend,” said Caden.

The two are leaning on each other and their memories.

“She was just so brave and bold and everything that she did we just have to remember to always try to be like that for the rest of our lives,” said Becca.

“She always said don’t stay in your comfort zone always do something you know that feels new and I think I will always just push myself out there and I remember her by caring on her legacy and will always talk about our memories together and just make sure that she’s not forgotten,” said Caden.

Good advice and perhaps a life lesson from an inspirational young woman.

Be brave. Be bold. Don’t stay in your comfort zone.

Final arrangements are still pending.