memories

While the new year is upon us and we are filled with hope and excitement about all the possibilities '09 possesses, today my heart is filled with sadness. A year ago today my cousin Meredith passed away unexpectedly. She is survived by my aunt and uncle and her two brothers, Chris and Mike. I pray today that they will be able to find peace and that will be consumed with God's love, that their sadness will be replaced with joy and the memories of their loving daughter and that they can find strength in His promises.

As I laid awake these past few nights, I had time to think about all the memories I had of Meredith. She was four years older than me and I adored her. Although my list of memories falls short in many ways I'm sure, these are just some of the things that stand out in my mind:

Doritos, penguins, Duran-Duran, coke slurpees made with snow, walking to 7-11 to buy sweat tarts, playing Box Car children, Xila (the name we gave to the huge snow pile outside our grandparents house), eating my very first "veggie" sub from Subway with Mer (who was a vegetarian) and choosing from that moment on to adopt a "no red meat" diet myself, sparkling water, teaching me how to apply eyeliner, playing my Ouija board in our grandparents room at Christmas, playing Bloody Mary and Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board, looking forward to her hand-me-downs, Kowloon Chinese Restaurant, the letters she would write me and her beautiful handwriting, incense burning in her room, earrings made from chandeliers, singing and playing the piano, orange tic-tacs and gummy bears, and black olives strategically placed on each of our fingers.

As I recalled these things I found my eyes filled with tears, yet I was laughing at the same time. I miss Mer but am so thankful to have these memories.