Jeff had the honor of speaking to family and friends as we said goodbye to Gina. For those who werent there (or those who were), we wanted to share his words: I have thought a lot about the possible ways life can go. Like so many of us, I have spent a lot of time preparing for things to go wrong, and worrying about them. But losing my sister was the furthest thing from my mind. Gina was my little sister. She was two years younger than me in age. But I always thought of her, in the very best sense, as my older sister – more accomplished with having a family, pursuing a career than I have been. Younger or older, it doesn’t matter. She was my sister. She IS my sister. She always will be. To Thomas, Jacob, Colby and Emily, I want to say something meaningful. Something profound. All I can say is this: I am sorry. You have lost a beautiful mother. A mother who loved you more than anyone has ever loved their children. A mother who literally would do anything for you. I know it doesn’t always seem that way. A mother is human, she makes mistakes. But what I know is this – Gina, your mom, is irreplaceable. She will live in your heart in ways you don’t even know yet. She will live in my heart in ways I don’t know yet. To my own mother, I don’t know what to say. Other than the same thing: Mothers are human. They do their best. More than their best, every single day of their lives. Gina loved you, Mom, more than I know how to say. To her friends, you were Gina’s life. She told me about you, she wrote about you on Facebook and in the letters we used to share before the days of Facebook. She couldn’t stop talking about the friends she had made. So, please, I ask you: Don’t stop talking about her. Let Gina live in your heart and in your lives every day. I know she will in mine. I didn’t know what it was like to lose a sister. I still don’t, I can’t comprehend this. But as my mother points out, Gina actually had a smile on her face when she left us. That is the way Gina will always be. Smiling. Please go out today, and for the rest of your lives, and do the things Gina cannot do anymore: Watch the sunrise and the sunset, forgive the people who need your forgiveness, travel to a tropical island, brag about your children and the people you love. Brag about them a lot. Keep your friends close to you. I’d like to be able to tell you funny stories about Gina, beautiful stories about Gina, frustrating stories about Gina, kind stories about Gina, special stories about Gina – but there are too many of each of those. In time we will talk about all of them. Because, I hope, we will never stop talking about Gina. That is the way she will continue to live with all of us. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being part of our lives. We all still need to grapple with the reality of this, the enormity of this. But for now, we need to say goodbye to Gina … for now, the way we knew her. I just hope you will help make sure that Gina lives on and on in new and different ways. I know you will miss her. I will, too.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 03:00:39 +0000