This picture was taken a year ago, today. My Cousin-with-a-capital-C Julie had come to visit for a few days. It was a very Mary Poppins (by which I mean: practically perfect) weekend. We laughed, we cried, we tried on wigs and we ate waaaay too many Pringles. This picture was taken Saturday night, just outside my apartment, as we were heading out to meet Jo and Chris for dinner.
I love the gift that memory can be. "Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories." (1,237 classic movie points to anyone who knows the reference.) I love my cousins. I especially love my Cousin who is also one of my best friends. Some of my earliest memories are with Julie. (I cannot eat mint chip ice cream or banana popsicles without thinking of Julie and her sister Beth.) Julie and I were able to live together for years in our twenties. (At Halloween, we used to go "trick-or-treating" in our ward. We'd carry around a plate of rice crispy treats and a bucket full of cleaning supplies. We'd knock on the doors of apartments of our friends and offer them either a treat or a trick (chore). ... Pretty much, the only way to get me to do service is if I also have a plate of goodies to reward myself with.) Julie is one of the three people who are on speed-dial in my phone. I love her. I'm grateful for the time that I've been able to share with her, for the many, many years that she has been an influence for good in my life.
This coming week, last year, was an incredible week. It was full of friendship and laughter and love. It was also full of pain and fear and suffering. I'm grateful for memories of both what was good and what was hard. I'm so incredibly grateful for a good memory. It has been one of the great blessings in my life.
As I look back on the last year of my life, I sometimes shake my head and wonder what in the world has happened here... At other times, I look back on the last year of my life and I know exactly what has happened here. And at those times, I am amazed and grateful for the clarity that comes of knowing that people are what matter the most - and I have some incredible and amazing people in my life, Cousin Julie chief among them.
