I truly believe Liz is with me, and those that knew her, every single day. Maybe it’s the thought of her, or a picture, when Tom Petty comes on, or even a butterfly that crosses my path..but there’s 2 times of the year I feel her presence the most and I find my mind racing. Around the time she passed away, and her birthday.
June 4th, 1994. The earth received an angel that day. And how lucky am I (are we) to have known her? To hear her laugh, to call her a friend, to go out and celebrate her birthday with her. To know Liz, was to love Liz and I’ll say it for the rest of my life – I’m so damn lucky to have known her.
Time is such a weird concept. We can’t stop it, we can’t rewind it, all we can do is live through it and embrace it all. But it’s also strange because I’m starting to notice that I’m getting older. A couple wrinkles here and there, a headache after a glass of wine or two. But whenever I think of Liz..well I think of Liz. 20 year old, happy, go-lucky, flawless skin, Liz. In fact, the last time I hung out with Liz was at the end of June in 2014. And even after seeing her in the hospital and at her funeral..that’s how I’ll always think of her. Tan, tiny (also very tiny hands lol) with the longest lashes and the biggest smile on her face. A literal angel on earth.
What keeps me thinking is the unanswered thought of wondering that if she was still on this earth, what would she look like now? What would her life look like going into her last year of her 20’s? Would she be married? Have any kids? What would she be doing on the weekends?
My heart hurts thinking that almost a decade of her life was robbed from her and her mom, Vicky. And sometimes I wonder if others think about these things, too. At times, I even feel guilty that I GET TO grow older, and she doesn’t. Like the past 9 years we were given the ticket to go on this wild rollercoaster of the next decade of our lives and she wasn’t.
Because of Liz I’ve learned that time, aging, this life thing that we’re all doing at this exact moment..it’s a gift. It is a ticket that we, unfortunately, do not all receive. So throw your hands up, scream at the top of your lungs, cry at the top, laugh at the bottom and LIVE.
These days when I think of you, I thank you. I do my best to honor you. And today, and every day – we celebrate you. Another year to have known you and love you. Happy 29th Birthday, Liz.
Natalie Christina 