Thursday, January 28, 2010

No Woman No Cry


That was the song that we stood to at Leigh's funeral. I said goodbye to her 10 years ago and it feels like yesterday. I wish that I could go back in time and do things differently. Instead of being too involved and too busy in college, I wish I would have spent more time with friends. Instead of pushing people away when life got uncomfortable and messy, I wish I would have called Leigh and talked to her about things. I wish I would have trusted friends more back then. There was a lot of junk in my life that no one else saw. Leigh was the kind of person who would have loved me through my mess and helped me to see the hope that was ahead of me instead of the things I was afraid of. She taught me a lot while she was alive and she taught me even more after she was gone. I really miss her. I wish I could have been a better friend to her. I wish she could see my little girls. I hope she knew how much she meant to me and how much I loved her. How much I still love her.

I am thankful that I have all of my sorority sisters and my husband to celebrate her life with. People who knew her know how I feel. I am glad that we will always keep her alive in our beautiful memories of her.

Leigh-Leigh, I am laughing as I remember our "Coffee Talk" skit that we did for Serenades, and dancing in the hallway of our dorm to our "routines", or making prank phone calls to our friends . I'm smiling when I think of how we tried to cheer up Jaimie when she was so sick, when we went shopping to buy matching outfits, and everything else we did together. I'm crying when I think of the times that I missed an opportunity to strengthen our friendship because I was too scared. You were such an amazing person - I will never forget you.

5 comments:

Amy R. said...

In case you were wondering - the picture of us is circa 1997 - the Fall that we met and instantly hit it off when we realized our middle names were both Leigh. :)

Little T said...

I love hearing of how many lives she touched. Thanks for posting!

Erin Albright said...

Amy,

What you wrote was amazing! I think that Leigh would be so proud of the amazing woman that you have become--and, for that matter, your entire pledge class, you guys are leading amazing lives. It was great to read of your memories of Leigh and to be reminded of her wonderful spirit.

I also didn't realize you had a blog (I just saw the Facebook post and clicked on it). So now I am excited that I will be able to keep up with you and your adorable family through your blog! I think of you often friend!

AOT,

Erin (Albright) Truta

P.S. Thanks to you Frog and Toad are still my FAVORITE children's book characters.

Sarah said...

Great post. I do hate to see you being so hard on yourself, though. We all have regrets from those years but I think you were amazing back then as you are now.

Amy R. said...
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