I was going to stay off the blog today, but in my email box came a lovely message from a young lady I had a chance meeting with just two weeks ago. This encounter prompted my blog April 14th ‘Coffee with a stranger’. It just reminded me how easily we can all touch people we meet with kindness or just a simple word of encouragement at the right time. I now have a new friend, and blog fan. hello Ashleigh!

I am surfacing following an extremely emotive but beautiful day yesterday. Attending the funeral of an amazing young woman who made such an impact in her nineteen years and touched people by her simple acts of kindness.

As sad as it was to see so many young people upset over the loss of a such a special friend I was also in absolute awe of not only her mother’s beautiful address, but how three young people, her lovely sister, boyfriend and best friend had the courage to also speak and I know that is not easy.

I was also overwhelmed by the love that filled the church which just confirmed what a difference one person can make to so many lives they touch along the way. This particular young woman was kind and compassionate far beyond her years. Few lines from one of the poems read out:

You can shed tears that she’s gone;

‘You can shed tears that she is gone or you can smile because she has lived.‘

‘You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back, or you can do what she would want; smile, open your eyes, love and go on.’

For those they knew and loved her that is exactly what she would want for all her friends to follow their dreams and do well.