An Earth Angel

I doubt anybody even reads this blog anymore, but I really needed to blog today.

I am feeling an array of new emotions and foreign feelings. I feel the phenomenon people who have been down this route have referred to as a feeling of "numbness." I never understood these feelings before, feelings of what must be grief. It still hasn't sunk in, it doesn't even feel real. It feels like a story, like a bad dream, it really does. That's the best, and only way I can even begin to describe how this feels. I can't even put it into real words.

I wasn't even close to her, it's not like we ever talked on the phone, or wrote to each other. I saw her every now and then at camp events mostly, but she was one of my youth leaders once upon a time. My memories of her are fond, always laughing. She introduced me to the cult classic Iron Chef, and gave me an admiration for her because she could burp louder than any of the boys in my youth group.

Shelly gave everywhere she went. She volunteered at camp for years, which is where she met her future husband. She volunteered as a nurse, as a leader, as a director at many camps, as well as events hosted by the BCOQ. I believe I have seen her at every Blizzard I have gone to, every Encounter I have gone to, as well as sharing many awesome weekend retreats with her and SPEW throughout my adolescence. She always brought light, laughter, and fun everywhere she went. As I said before, I wasn't close to her, but it still hurts. I can't fathom that she's gone; no matter how many times I replay the words over and over in my mind, I can't make any sense of them. She was so young, so beautiful, so full of life. Now gone.

My memories, though few and far between are, are still fond, and I will cherish them now, and hang on to them with what little thread I have, and carry them with me.

Goodbye Shelly Patterson Emmott
















(Photo courtesy of www.geoffhunt.com)

CHRISSY