Teri... She was so brave. She never gave up hope, she never let her guard down. She was always positive, always up beat. I remember her saying "I don’t want anyone who isn’t up beat at the hospital with me." She always had the best possible outlook in life. In every situation, she found the positive happy side to things. She always said "don’t worry, it’s gonna be ok." When I couldn’t make her wedding one month ago, she said "don’t worry about this one. In two to three years, we’re gonna have another one that’s gonna be huge. I’ll have long hair again and you can come to that one." I guess there won’t be another one in a few years... Last night felt so surreal. Then this morning came, and I just went into shock.
Teri and I always got along. When we were kids, we’d all hang out at MaMaLu’s house and plan a "show" and "sell tickets" to our parents so they could come and watch. We would do "magic tricks" on the swing on the back porch.
Then when my family and I moved to GA, we found out that Teri and her family came to Warner Robins every Thanksgiving. My first year in Warner Robins, GA for Thanksgiving we went to Uncle Warren’s house. We planned a "Haunted House". Erin, Lisa, Teri, Mel, Bob, Kelly, a few other cousins and me cooked spaghetti noodles to put on the plastic tarp to be "brains". We used the marker board to write our ideas down that would "spook" our parents when they walked through the "Haunted House". The second or third year, Uncle Warren moved to the Brantley. We went there for Thanksgiving again and we had a blast. All of us cousins went upstairs to play a game. I don’t remember the name, but one person was "it" and we were all in one room. We’d turn the lights out and if you were touched, then you were out and had to fall to the ground. It sounds silly, but it was so much fun! We were almost guaranteed to see Teri and her family just about every Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving of 2006 is the last time I saw Teri. She came up with her fiance Ehren and his two children. I can’t even imagine how heart broken they are to lose Teri. They all came up with Teri’s parents to visit. We all ate dinner at Mel’s house that night. Mel’s step children put on a "show". Just like we used to. They sold tickets and everything! If anybody had a cell phone, they were video taping the performance! It brought us all back to when we were kids together. We had so much fun, and they were too.
My cousin Erin, Teri’s sister, is getting married in June. I can’t imagine how difficult it will be for her and Albert... That is the next time I thought I would see Teri. I was really looking forward to it. Now the next time I will see her is in Heaven... At least she isn’t hurting anymore. I hear she was in so much pain. I hate that she went to fast, but then again if she didn’t, she would have suffered more than she deserved. Even when things were tough, Teri had the best confidence that everything was going to be ok. She always had a smile on her face. She had no shame. She loved posting pictures of her head tattoos. Every picture I saw of her, she had a smile on her face. So brave. If I ever have to go through something like that, I hope I can have the happiness and strength that I saw in Teri. She was an amazing woman!
I love you Teri! I will never forget you! I miss you so much!
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