Aaron

Well, it's again been a ridiculously long time since I have posted on here. Even Adam commented on it, so I know it's true! Things have been moving at a whirlwind pace, and I've just had a lot more interesting things to do I guess. But summer is now here and I am resolving to be more faithful to writing. Even though lots of interesting stuff has been going on, there is one item that I really need to write about today and the rest will wait.

____________________________________________________________________

On the first day of our trip East (to be written about later), I received the truly tragic news that my dear friend Aaron had lost her life in a car accident. This incident would be horrible under any circumstances, but was overall very complicated by the fact that she was moving with her family to Utah and now her life was cut short. I mourn for her and especially for her young family, who will miss her terribly I know.

Rather than dwelling on the circumstances of the present, I have tried to spend the last week and a half memorializing Aaron in my own mind. She and I had been friends since junior high school, and close friends since high school. She is the one who inspired me to begin writing here, and we had become more "in touch" in the last several months thorough our book club.

We originally became more than classmates in high school because we were in almost all of the same activities together: band, academic bowl, speech and debate, etc. etc. In addition, we always sat together in our common classes because of alphabetical order. But those are all circumstantial...the true reason we became close is that we had so much in common. I really feel that we were kindred spirits in a lot of ways. We were both bookish and a bit shy, responsible students and had similar life goals. We had lots of time in school to talk about life, religion, politics, the future, friends, boys, and everything else because we both got done with our assignments fast and then just chatted. This happened in a lot of places, but especially in French because we were so darn bored in there.

I learned a lot about Aaron's faith during this time. I was really interested in her religion although I was very strongly connected to my own church. We visited each other's churches and discussed our views in different areas. One thing she really taught me was tolerance and understanding. Not because we were so different, but because we were so much alike. I know that Aaron was certainly a woman of faith and that she is happy in heaven now, which is a great comfort to me and I hope to her family. I would like to think that our heavens aren't so very different, and that I will see her again there too.

We have remained in touch since high school, although somewhat sporadically, but I really made the effort to stay connected because I really valued her friendship. Aaron is one of the few people I know that I felt I could really be myself with. She was always accepting, even though I knew she might not agree with me. We did a lot of scrapbooking together, and she was incredibly talented as an artist. Always creative and original. In fact, she had an extensive array of talents for one person. She was effortlessly musical on multiple instruments, could memorize with ease, and in fact made most things look easy. I was so pleased to have her as the organist at my wedding, and each Sunday she would play the organ at her church even though she had restless kiddos in the pew. That's dedication! And this is a true talent to me: she is the one person I know who read more quickly, and more widely, than I did. (This has changed some now because I am so busy, but Aaron had three kids to contend with!) When the idea of a book club came up, Aaron's name was quick to pop into my mind and I think that she really enjoyed it. I know we really enjoyed having her with us.

Aaron was not a perfect person...not one of us is. She had a lot of personality and was sometimes quite dry and even sarcastic. But this made her who she is, and we loved her. She coped gracefully with the way things were, and she did have to deal with many hardships. The main thing that I have learned from losing my dear friend after only 25 years of life, is to cherish each day. Aaron lived every moment (and had to! there was always something going on in her life!) and made each second count. I hope to do the same, and especially in the area of holding my dear friends close. I have realized in the short time since she has been gone just how many times in a day I would think of her: dancing at a wedding, and remembering dancing with her and Cameron at ours; reading a good book; the list goes on. She was a big part of my life even though we might see each other very rarely. I have others, too, who fit into this category, and I need to remember to cherish them as well.

Aaron's memorial service is this afternoon. I am dreading it at looking forward to it at the same time. I know that I need the closure, to realize that she is definitely gone for now. Right now it still seems very surreal. But I also know that there will be a flood of difficult emotions: empathy for her husband, children, mother and siblings; the realization of our own mortality; and sadness at the reality that I will never again get to chat with my dear friend. I am glad that I will be surrounded by other dear friends who mourn with me over a life too short. We all have fond memories of Aaron, admired her for her courage and perseverance, and I personally feel blessed to have known her and shared a part of my life with her. She will certainly not be forgotten.