A Life of Wonder

I recently gave a eulogy for a young friend who passed away. She was a poet, and her poetry was scattered through out her Facebook profile. Ten years worth of updates. Hundreds of them. Thousands of them.

To write her eulogy, I read her profile updates. I immersed in her words, and revisited her sense of humor.

Her words were inspiring and subtle. There were times where through her words she guided us on how to grieve and how to live.

I believe that when someone passes, the most beautiful tribe we can pay them is to find their own words, words they use, which are their essence, and speak those words as we lay them to rest.

This is what I did at her celebration of life.

I’ll leave you with her words:

“everyone is a gift and gifted;
young people will save our souls and maybe even our soil;
belonging is a being that we build together;
communal ritual restores health;
tell the truth and embody love;
talk about and work to dismantle systems of oppressions in ways that generate connection and healing —
read books by rabbis ; dance with men with soft hands…
communities have nervous systems that we can hold and regulate
play is a cure-all ;
everything can heal”