“My Friend Carolyn”

         My friend Carolyn died. She was my husband’s friend first, from many years ago, and then she became my friend; and like all of my friends, Carolyn taught me a lot.

         You see, every day was an adventure for Carolyn. Whether it was going to a Feast Day celebration at a Pueblo or hanging out at a local bookstore, whether she had tickets to a lecture or a concert or was just going to lunch on a Tuesday; everything she did and participated in was an opportunity to stretch open her mind and heart just a little wider.

         She refused to accept that she had learned or seen or had enough. She loved trying untried things as well as sitting with the memories. She cherished the friends of many years and continually sought out opportunities to make new ones. She made the mundane special, the ordinary spectacular; Carolyn lived fully and deeply and authentically all the way to the end.

         It was about six weeks before she died that she confirmed what I have always known. “I don’t want to go just yet,” she said. “But if I do, what a great life I have had and what a great adventure I am about to take.”

         Nothing was ever wasted on Carolyn. Not sorrow, not beauty, not tenderness or someone’s attempt to be good. Not the color of the sky at dawn or a tear or a simple question from a child; nothing was ever frivolous or to be denied attention or dismissed; everything mattered, even if only for a second.

         In her memory today and in the memory of anyone you loved who is now gone, I invite you to open yourself a little wider today. I invite you to listen carefully to the rain (when we get some) and to the music that moves you, step lightly upon the earth that holds you up, bow in gratitude to the river and the mountain, take the hand of a friend or your sister or child, the one you’re still getting to know. Laugh until you cry, taste your tea, learn a new word, a new language. Go see something for the first time, make every day an adventure and I promise you will shine. You will be rich. And you will make the world a better place.

You are the light of the world.

Yours,

Lynne