FLEMING ISLAND – Having felt abandoned most of her young life, Kadence Caraballo chose a particularly curious senior thesis at St. Johns Classical Academy.

She wrote about feeling love. She theorized it doesn’t have to come from a partner or parents. It can come from a friend, even a casual acquaintance.

Based on the second of seven novels by Marcel Proust called "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower"—which is a dissection of boys' and girls' adolescence—it explores his relationship with his grandmother, outside family and a settlement between different forms of love.

She had to defend a draft of her thesis with a panel of three judges. But since she got a 100 on it, there wasn’t anything to defend.

The paper not only was the final step in her graduation process, but it was also a significant part of self-discovery. She wondered why her inner circle included her.

“'Why are they hanging out with me?' was what my thesis was supposed to say,” Kadence said. “I realized love doesn’t have to be romantic. It can be through family matters. It can be through friendships.”

Kadence’s parents haven’t been part of her life for as long as she can remember. She lived with her grandmother, Velda Kurtz, until she died of COVID in 2020. Kadence and her brother then moved in with their aunt and uncle, Maggie and Todd Boger.

“It took me a while because when I was growing up, I didn't particularly like them because they were just completely different from my grandma,” Kadence said. “When I moved in, I felt like I didn't fit in, because they are my family, but they didn't know me. They knew of me, but they didn't know me personally. I always thought to myself, how could you love me when you haven’t even known me for that long?”

Then her brother decided to leave and live with a friend.

Her parents were gone. Her grandmother died. Her brother left.

“Everyone left me,” Kadence said. “I'm just alone here. That was one of the hardest things for me. I was already emotionally unstable because I didn't live with my parents. I was living with my grandma, and my grandma passed away.”

When her grandmother died, it meant leaving Lake Asbury Junior High and attending St. Johns Classical Academy when she moved in with her aunt and uncle. Not only was she in a new home with unfamiliar guardians, but she was also in a new school with a sense of abandonment and no friends.

Then, things started to click. The relationship with her aunt and uncle solidified. School became a sanctuary of support and, well, love.

“I can’t think of a place where I’d rather be,” she said.

Her faith also blossomed and helped direct her through the adolescent uncertainty. What she believed was certain despair evolved into an outcome so improbable, so positive, Kadence still grapples to understand it.

“You feel like you’re losing everything, but then, you’re here. You’re graduating. You have a great home life. You have great friends,” she said.

And love.