This is a post I had hoped I would never have to write. Two weeks ago a dear friend who I have known for many many years was critically injured in a roll over accident. She suffered severe head trauma and numerous other injuries to include a broken cheek bone/eye socket, broken arm, and broken ribs. She was in a coma for almost 2 weeks. With each new day we had hope. I was able to go to the hospital and be with her for a few minutes the day after the accident. The spirit that filled her room was beyond words. Such peace and comfort, knowing that the Lord's will, whatever that was, would be done. I wasn't able to go up again because a few days later I got sick and didn't want to get her family sick. I'm so thankful for that time I was able to spend with her.
This afternoon, Heavenly Father called her home, and my sweet friend answered. Right now, as I write this I am close to tears again, but I am also numb, in shock. Even as I sat in her hospital room tonight, looking at her body, knowing she was gone, I expected her to jump up and say she was fine. I sat there next to her husband, also a dear friend, not knowing what to say. I just told him I was sorry and expressed my love for them. He actually told me Thank You. I felt like I should have been the one thanking him for allowing me to be there. What do you say to someone who just had to say goodbye to the one he loves more than anything in this world. What do you say to their 9 year old daughter, who has to live without her mother. I thought forward to her daughter's wedding day and wondered who would be there with her in the bride's room. I was filled with comfort, knowing that whoever was there, her mom, would be there too. She is our guardian angel, looking out for all of us, but ecspecially her daughter and husband.
I keep remembering to the summer that I met my sweet friend. I remember walking home from school with her, on occassion, laughing and talking. I remember how we worked at the same place and we loved when we worked the same shift. We would take breaks and lunches together and just talk and laugh. One day she came to work and said she was thinking about writting to another friend of ours who was on his mission. I encouraged her to. She wondered again if she should. I told her I would get her his address if I had to, but that she should definately write him. Others encouraged her to write him too and she did. I remember the day she came into work and was so excited because they had been writting for some time and he was coming home soon. I was so excited for her. Several months after he returned home they were engaged and I remember the joy I felt for them (not that I had anything to do with them getting together, I wasn't the only one who encouraged her to write him, we just had conversations about it, and I remember those fondly). I remember standing on the sidelines at her wedding, next to her mom, and watching as my sweet friend danced with her dad, and as her dad, at the end of the song took her hand and lead her over to her new husband and placed her hand in his, in essence, giving her away. It was the sweetest moment, to this day I have ever witnessed at a wedding. I remember the day I found myself with a 3 yr old and no place to live. My friends invited me to live with them until I could find an apartment. She joked that she was like my mom and I was her daughter. She would laugh when she realized that if I was like her daughter, that made her a very young "grandma". Laughing while playing games, arguing about who did the dishes last. Watching conference together. Confiding in her, listening to her. Oh how I miss my sweet friend.
About a year after I moved out of their house into my own apartment, I moved out of state and lost touch with them. Ecspecially after I got married and hubby joined the Army and we moved to Kansas. I never forgot about my friends. I thought about them often and wished I could get in touch with them again. I did for a short time, but lost touch again. Life got in the way for all of us.
About a year ago I found them on Facebook. I was so happy. I couldn't wait to move back to Utah (we were living in New Mexico at the time, still in the Army) I was so excited to see them and all my other friends and family. Shortly after we moved back to Utah, they moved to St. George, 4 hours away. We never got a chance to get together.
A little before Christmas I messaged her and asked her for her address so I could mail her Christmas card to them. She messaged me back and gave me her # telling me to call her. I figured I would call her soon. Soon never came. And now she's gone. I still have their Christmas card sitting on my desk, no address, just their names. A haunting reminder that I didn't call her. Why didn't I call her? Life got in the way again. Now it's too late. I will try my best never to let life get in the way again, because you never know when soon, will never come.
So now I sit, filled with comfort of the memories I will always cherish of my sweet friend. Mourning the loss, greiving for her husband, her daughter and their families and all those she left behind. Another of her friends wrote, that Yes, I lost my friend, but they lost a wife, a daughter, a sister, a mother. My heart is breaking for them. Yet, I am rejoicing with the thought of the reunion she is having now. Surrounded by all those who love her and were called home before her. Surrounded by our Saviors love. Finally, at peace, in the comfort of home. I am so grateful for the gospel, and the knowledge that because of the atonement and love of our Father in Heaven and his son, Jesus Christ, we can see Melissa again.
To my sweet, dear Melissa, God Be With You Till We Meet Again.
You will be missed beyond measure.
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