When I met her, I was just a kid. We were both kids. We grew up together. I learned so much from her. There still isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t do something the way she taught me: ask a cashier about their family, or send a thank you card, or a hunt for great deal. I’m twice the man because of her.
For 23 years we shared so many precious moments and memories, and now I am the only one who remembers them. I wept to a friend that I was terrified, as I forget, she disappears. One day she’ll be gone.
“Gone?” His eyebrows arched up. “Aren’t you a Christian?”
I laughed and cried at the same time. She might not live around here anymore, but she’s as alive as we are – and the heavenly choir sounds better than it ever has. One day she and those of us who loved her will stand around and laugh and remember the days we spent together down here. Of course by then, every building in heaven will be decorated with little jeweled butterflies. And if any of you wonder whether the little animals we love will be in heaven – if they weren’t before, she never took no for an answer, so you can bet they are now.