I didn’t even know how to start this post. I don’t have words. Mostly because there are never words that can explain some peoples presence. Some peoples bigness in our hearts and our worlds.
This week my friend Heather passed away after a long fight with cancer. She was too young. Her baby is too young. Sometimes life is so unfair.
But you know, the thing about Heather, was that she was always bigger than life. Always. She always wanted people to laugh, she was funny. Like really funny. Like belly laugh til you nearly pee your pants funny. Which I am sure I did more than once.
I haven’t seen Heather since the early 2000’s. But the memories we had together are still so fresh in my mind it was like we weren’t ever apart.
She was my best friend when I needed someone to show me how to have fun again. Her cousin Adam and I were madly in love and she was part of the package deal. I was a lucky girl. It was one of the best times of my life on every level.
We did crazy shit.
My boys were small and we would just randomly take day road trips to places on the Island that were not actually day trip material. We sang Bat outta Hell at the top of our lungs. Music was huge to both of us…to this day I hear If I had a million dollars and can see her singing every word…
She was the reason Adam and I got our first dog…she saved him and gave us the joy of having him in our family. She loved animals and they adored her right back. No one in the history of ever was more perfect for her job at the Vet clinic than she was.
She touched everyone who met her with her humor and her compassion. Even when she was fighting her own troubles, she could find something to joke about.
When she moved back home to New Brunswick, our lives became way less adventurous…less funny and a little bit smaller. We missed her like mad.
She was such an influence in my boys life. She taught them to be silly, and not care about other people’s opinions. She didn’t care that it was off the wall. She just wanted laughter and fun.
We should all learn from someone like Heather. We need more laughter and silliness. We need more singing at the top of our lungs. More bravery. More awesome.
We got our first tattoos together. She knew her Mom was gonna kill her. I thought maybe I was going to be in the bad books forever because I was an accomplice. But we did it anyway. She got a tribal frog on her back and I got my first dragonfly on my ankle.
I am sad that I will never hear her laugh again, except in my memory. I am sad that we didn’t get to spend more time together. I am grateful that I had her in my life for the years I did. I am grateful for how much we loved each other. I am grateful that she is still with me. That piece of my heart that is hers will live on in me for as long as I am blessed to be here. She changed my life. She made it bigger. Happier. Funnier. So the sadness is overwhelmed by the blessing that was Heather. Anyone whose life she touched will understand that. I hope she knew how loved she was…she was that girl…the one we all should be lucky enough to have touch our lives, even for a little bit of time.
Until we meet again sister…
