Remembering Becky

Brandon called last night to let me know
Becky's headstone was in, and then sent me this picture, I think it turned out beautiful, she would love it.
Karl called me last week to tell me he was going through some of Becky's things and he came across a bundle of letters, she had kept every single letter, postcard or card I had sent since I moved away in 1987, he is sending them back to me, I think I look forward to reading them and looking back over our lives, I must admit I am a little scared by that as well, she is on my mind all the time, she was such a huge part of my life and those of you who know me well know I am great at pushing off the things I don't want to deal with, I have a great "Scarlett O'Hara" attitude....I will think about that tomorrow. But she has found a way to creep into my mind almost daily, and that means dealing or tying to with the fact that she is gone.
I have been looking back on her life, she had it hard, she had a difficult relationship with her parents, but she overcame that and was able to realize that they loved her and did the best they could, she had Krystal at 15, was married and divorced by 18 with 3 kids, married Karl had the girls lost Kandace when she was only 11 months old, risked her health to have Kyle, her marriage was a turbulent one, but they stuck it out and had just celebrated their 19 anniversary and had overcome so much, no matter how difficult her life was she stayed happy and found the best in everything, she was a wonderful person full of love. I told the kids I would post the talk I gave at her funeral so they would have it, so here it is.
I met my friend Becky in Jr. High, ever since then our lives have been intertwined. We were there for each other for all the major events in our lives, there were weddings and funerals, new babies and then grand babies, times to celebrate and times to mourn. Our friendship survived not only the test of time but of distance as well, even after I moved 100's of miles away our friendship continued to grow.
Becky's mom always said we were kindred spirits and we believed her, when Becky's daughter Kandace was born on my birthday and the next year my son Levi was born on her birthday we saw that as further proof or lives were meant to be connected.
Becky loved with her whole heart, she loved purple, shrimp, pedicures, Patsy Cline, 49ers, Shirley Temple movies, collecting shot glasses, Peach city cherry cokes...extra cherry of course, yard sales and singing, she sang beautifully, church hymes, the latest hits from the radio or children's lullaby's she loved them all.
Becky loved her friends and genuinely cared about their lives, and most off all Becky loved her family, she loved being a wife and mother, the addition of grandchildren brought a whole new purpose to her life, her voice was filled with pride when she spoke of her kids and grand kids and their newest accomplishments no matter how big or small. Becky was so proud of Krystal and Jesse when they bought their house and when Krystal started work at IRS, she was happy when she called to tell me Brady had met a lovely new girl Holly and they were getting married, recently she called very excited to say Brandon and Jamie were having a baby, and she was so proud when she told me Kami and Robbie would be continuing their educations and returning to school, she so enjoyed watching her children grown into young adulthood, then there was Kyle, every time I called she would put him on the phone to sing you are my sunshine to me and he was her sunshine.
Each new achievement her grandchildren made brought a call, I remember the one to say we just had Josh's birthday you would not believe how big and handsome he has gotten, or Katie is so tall and beautiful and she has the sweetest smile, and how petite and lovable Maddlyn is and how she loved to hear her call her Grandma in that sweet tiny voice. She called to tell me when Lexi started kindergarten and to tell me how well Kirsten was talking, and to share with me the first time Brooklynn sat up, and there was that touching call to tell me she had been able to have lunch with Aubry and was able to sing with her (Aubrey is the granddaughter that was given up for adoption) each moment in her kids lies was so important to Becky and she was anxiously awaiting the arrival of two new grandchildren.
My favorite thing about Becky was her ability to find the good in everything no matter how dark a situation might seem she would find the one glimmer of light and hold on to that insisting everything would work out...and it always did. Becky saw things with almost a child like awe, she called me after she had taken a trip to Arizona to describe to me in great detail the palm trees she had seen for the first time, she was amazed by them. On my last trip home we went to see the fireworks and she and Kyle would pick out their favorites and say oh I loved that one or did you see the colors on that one, her wonder and amazement was contagious and I could not help but see the beauty she was seeing.
Becky touched my life and I am grateful to say she is my friend.
We ended every one of our talks the same....I miss you I love you
So one last time I say I will miss you Bec and I will always love you.