We all sat in a circle around the living room. The room was usually quite spacious but so many of us had piled in there it didn't seem so large anymore. Our tight-knit group of friends came together in support of our friend and her family. They had planned for us to tell stories and reminisce on some of our happier times and our favorite memories of her. We wrote our memories and thoughts on little pieces of paper and put them in a little box her father had put out. The outside of the box was decorated with some of her favorite things, or things that represented her in some way. We all took turns telling stories and mostly laughed, there wasn't much crying. This was a time to remember a wonderful life and a wonderful mother. We all needed to be positive for ourselves, and for Courtney most of all. To lose the person you had looked up to your entire life, who raised you, who was your best friend is almost too much to bear. However, it was soothing to have this time to be happy or try to be at least. She was the type of woman who would not want people to be sitting around crying over her all day. We had spent a few hours at their house talking amongst ourselves and with some of her family as well. Then we decided to give her some space and time to herself.
Although we left Courtney's house we did not split up, we all wanted to stay together. From the second we walked out the door there was a different feeling about us. We weren't giggling and talking anymore and we could no longer hide the fact that we were aching inside. I do not think any one of us realized how big of an affect her mother had on us and how awful it was to think that we would never see her again in this life.
That night the majority of us sat together and we cried. We shared our true feelings about what was going on and tried to console each other. It was a confusing an sad time but we would get through it together. LeAnne would want us to be strong for Courtney and that's what we were gong to do. Even though we would never be able to fill such a large void in her life we were going to come together and do whatever we could for her.
I think this might have worked better with some dialogue, some people talking, some of those stories--so that instead of telling us that there stories, we would actually hear a few of them and understand that void better.
ReplyDeleteTry a rewrite.