Pasta for one.

I find obituaries shockingly fascinating.  I mean, how can a person live an entire lifetime then be summed up in a 6 sentence paragraph on page 17, section B of the local newspaper?  Fascinating, but sad.  And even sadder when the departed only gets a sentence or two.  Is that it?  That's where we end up?  Smooshed into a column with a Dave & Buster's two-fer advertisement glaring underneath?  How terrible.

I dwell on this today because it's been one year exactly that my friend Shari passed.  She left this world way too soon and left a barrage of friends stunned, sad, hurt, angry, and maybe finally believing.  Shari being gone reminds me to believe in life, believe in family and friends, and believe that I will be remembered once I'm gone.  I don't think I ever believed so strongly as I do today.  Is it Shari working some sort of magic on me?  Is it the fear of a 5 sentence life summary that makes me believe life must be lived before we die?  I'm still not sure, but each day I think I get a little closer to knowing.

Shari probably deserved a whole newspaper to herself when she passed.  She was complicated, graceful, loving, devoted, and beautiful.  She was a woman who was loved by many and who will never be forgotten. 

I thought of you today, S.  I was wishing I could meet you at Bucca for some spaghetti and chatter.  It's not the same without you here.  And I hope that makes you smile up there.