Tuesday, 17 February 2026

Goodbye Dawson: a Quote to Walk us Through our Grief.

 


Yesterday, my Millennial heart broke.

Actor James Van Der Beek, most well-known for his role on the 90s teen drama “Dawson’s Creek,” died at the age of 48 after battling colorectal cancer.

He was a husband. A father of six. A friend. An actor.

But to so many of us, he was Dawson Leery. The cute, artsy, sometimes clueless, always vulnerable, Spielberg-loving, hyper-eloquent, hopelessly romantic, aspiring director, daydream believing teenager we couldn’t help but fall in love with.

“Dawson’s Creek” premiered in January 1998, when I was a freshman in high school, and the series finale aired in May 2003, when I was a sophomore in college. I watched it religiously, bought the DVDs, and still stream it as one of my comfort shows.

This show, and its characters, walked me through my adolescence. Through falling in love for the first time. Through friendship drama. Through heartbreak. Through growing up. Through leaving childhood behind. Through the beginnings of adulthood. Through loss and fear and sadness and what it means to let go.

And yesterday, those lessons resurfaced.

It’s jarring when someone you grew up with, someone so close to you in age, dies—for any reason. It’s a reminder of how fragile every moment is. How circumstances and the future we’ve envisioned for ourselves can change so quickly.

But it’s also a reminder that the magic of childhood, of adolescence, of growing up doesn’t last forever. And there will always be a certain sadness in that.

When I read the news about Van Der Beek’s death, the tears flowed automatically and for longer than I expected. And I couldn’t help but think about one of the final scenes of the series finale, when Dawson and his best friend (and first love) Joey sit down to connect after the death of one of their closest friends.

These words somehow feel more powerful, more necessary than ever as we walk through our grief:

Dawson: “It’s interesting that people use that expression: life and death. As if to imply that life is the opposite of death. But birth is the opposite of death—life has no opposite.” 

Joey: “I never thought of it that way.” 

Dawson: “Leave it to me to overthink it.” 

Joey: “You are the writer.”

Dawson: “This writer has decided it doesn’t matter how it ends. Because fiction is fiction. For the first time in a long time, my life is real. Doesn’t matter who ends up with who, cause in some unearthly way, it’s always going to be you and me.”

Life has no opposite. We are born and we die—and what matters most are the moments in between. The real life we allow ourselves to live.

The connections we form.
The relationships we nourish.
The love we share.

The choices we make.
The dreams we chase.
The passions we pursue.

The people and places and experiences and art we learn from.

I am sad that we have to say goodbye. But I am thankful for this show, for these characters, for the lessons that guided me as I was growing up. For the lessons that still shape the way I walk through my real life.

See ya, Dawson.

~

Katies Holmes, who played Joey on “Dawson’s Creek,” penned a heartfelt letter to her former co-star: 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A classic Dawson moment:

~


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