A Personal Remembrance: Farewell Suzi And Thank You

Suzi made me smile every time I saw her.

Every. Single. Time.

Think about that for a minute. I'm not talking about 'in general' here. I'm being literal. I never once saw Suzi when she didn't make me smile. And there would be about 75% of the time when she would make me laugh, laugh out loud.

How rare is that?

Now, I don't want to make her out to be perfect. No, no, no. She was human, after all. I'm sure there were people that she, as we say, torqued off. People that she fought with, people that she had disagreements with, people that for whatever reason she didn't hit it off with. But I'm not talking about those people. I'm talking about me.

We weren't best friends, Suzi and I. In fact, I'm just about 100% sure that Suzi and my wife were better friends than Suzi and I. They would spend a lot more time yakking, laughing, and trading stories. And I'm a full 100% positive that Suzi had many much, much closer friends than me. I really didn't see her all that often. But when we did get together, she made me smile.

Every. Single. Time

I'm not at all sure I've ever met anyone else like that in my life, and I've been stumbling around the planet a good long time now. I don't think I've ever met anyone any more vibrant, joyful, funny, inquisitive, bubbly and positive than Suzi. Sounds like I must be making that up, right?

Well, if you think that, you never met Suzi.

But have you ever met someone who, just by being themselves, made you feel better somehow, just happier somehow?

She packed a whole lot of joy into those 42 short years. When she died I was like, I'm sure, everyone who knew her. Shocked. No way. What? What? Denial. Grief. And still, shock.

I hadn't seen Suzi in quite a while, no thanks to this damn Coronavirus. But it wasn't that big of a deal, we'd see her again before long and she'd make us smile and quite probably laugh. Except we didn't see her again.

There were tears, I'm not ashamed to say that. But there are smiles now, too. I mean a lot of smiles. And plenty of laughter in those warm memories.

My life is richer for having known this young lady. I wanted to know her longer.

Farewell Suzi. And Thank You.