Life Has to End, Love Doesn't

I've grown accustom to loss. Nothing has ever stayed around long in my life besides my family. It's sad, it's hard; but, after so long your heart becomes hardened and loss isn't so hard anymore. But there's always one loss that stays with you. It's there everyday. You always think about it. People say time heals all, but not this kind of loss can be healed.

I was almost 16 when I got the news. Lung cancer, stage 3. My aunt had lung cancer. Stage 3, there wasn't much hope in my heart. All I knew was I was going to love her through it. I got to spend 16 more months with my aunt. They were great, hard, but great. Rounds of chemo change a person, it's extremely hard to see the physical changes from chemo. The hardest part is you never get those images out of your mind. They haunt you.

My aunt Sherri taught me everything. My love for photography started with one of her project whims. She was the best Girl Scout leader a young girl could ask for. She had the funnest sleepovers at her house. In fact, she use to let me watch Maury at age 7. She was the cool, the fun, the free spirit aunt.

She light up a room like the 4th of July. She was strong as a rock and never backed down to anyone, even though she was barely 5 foot. She was the bravest woman I ever knew. She was Sherri Ann. She once rode a motorcycle through her high school. She was a wild one, but an amazing one. She was some where between raising hell and saving grace.

I loved her for everything she was, everything he had been, and everything she would be today. She was a role model, a hero, a friend, and my world growing up.




16 months of battling cancer took its tole on her. She fought with everything she was. I thought I lost everything when I lost her. It's been 4 years, still feels like just yesterday it happened. I think about her everyday. I miss her everyday. I can still feel her around me. I know she's proud of me. When someone means that much to you and is that important in your life you don't forget them. You don't let them go, even I you wanted too. Even though they are gone they will always be a huge and important part of your life.

"Lost love is still love. It just takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move then around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance it. Life has to end, love doesn't." -Mitch Albom