How to be Remembered
Lessons from a Friend
About 7 years ago, I ended up at a really crappy barista job. Everyone quit as soon as I showed up and it was just me and the manager. Then they hired just one more person.
This girl was bubbly and bright. She was young and full of fun. I liked her a lot. She was maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed, but had the biggest heart.
But she also had a heart condition. She disclosed her disability to the company up front and told them she would have to call out sick often.
Since she was the only other person they’d hired, this did lead to some stressful times. I loved this girl, she did her best every day and did everything right about communicating her situation up front, it was the company that had let us down.
I left pretty soon after, and she moved back to Spokane. Eventually, she got a heart transplant and things were looking up.
In her last post on Facebook, she said she was starting to experience heart rejection. But she was STILL so positive about the treatments and medications her doctors were trying. She was planning to make it.
Unfortunately, she didn’t this time, and hearing about it on Facebook really shook me.
This person was one of the most genuinely angelic people I’ve ever met. All she ever wanted was for everyone to be happy and have a good time. She was a true believer in always trying your best and living life to the fullest.
Because she had to be. Life was freaking precious to this girl. Every single day she had was a gift. Her positivity was so inspiring.
This is why her death is so haunting to me, because even though we weren’t close I will never forget her and the light she brings when she walks in a room.
I will never forget all the hilarious jokes she made. Her big, wide smile.
She truly loved life, and I only wish she could have lived a little more of it.
It’s times like these we are reminded to tell others what they mean to us.
It gives us perspective: is that silly thing we’re all upset about really that important?
Remember to appreciate all you have today and hold your loved ones close.
And if YOU want to be remembered long after you’re gone, then I think the key is to make people smile.
Be kind and compassionate.
Try to be such a bright light everywhere you go, that even that one random person you worked with for a few months back in 2014 misses it, and misses you.
Do it for the ones who can’t anymore.