TheBanyanTree: Memorial Service

[Monique]

Natalie was 19 when she died of leukemia. At the memorial service, her uncle
referred to her as a high school dropout - at the age of 16 she left high
school to go to university. Natalie was smart.

 

Her aunt told a story from when Natalie was 2. Natalie's cousin, Zach, was
also 2, and her aunt had them both in the bathtub together. Zach, being a
boy and it being his bathtub, had a collection of toys for the bath that he
hung onto, saying, "My guys!" when anyone tried to take one. Zach was not
into sharing. Natalie sat there patiently. Zach's mom eventually got one of
the "guys" from Zach and handed it to Natalie, two year old Natalie. Natalie
held it aloft and said, "Not guy! Tyrannosaurus Rex!" At which point Zach's
mom knew this was one very smart little girl, and Zach's mom looked at Zach
and thought, "Uh oh." 

 

They told stories of Natalie's troubled life. How, in fifth grade, she and a
friend played a devious trick on a classmate. The classmate had been reading
a book, and when she got up and left the book behind, Natalie and her friend
snuck over, removed the bookmark and inserted it into another section of the
book. 

 

The girl was obviously trouble. There were many wonderful stories.

 

She was a musician, and an artist, and had been accepted into a prestigious
art program at her university. After she got the news that there were no
more treatments that could be done she went back to her studies. 

 

Someone she met at college told a story. Natalie had led him into trouble
also. As a practical joke, they'd managed to talk their way into a
classmate's house, unknown to the classmate, and while there managed to set
an alarm clock under the classmate's bed, set to ring in the middle of the
night. The storyteller said this was way outside his comfort zone, that the
experience had such a positive effect on him, even his parents noticed. Did
the trick work? No one knows. No one cares. That wasn't the point. 

 

Natalie was described in many ways: serious, shy, full of love, centered,
wise beyond her years, a good friend, a much loved daughter, an only child
in an extended clan that has their own theme song, a favorite of many. She
made family meditate with her, whether they liked it or not, even until the
end.

 

During the service we were asked to think of just one word to describe
Natalie. The first word that came to my mind was inspiration, and I stuck
with that.

 

I never met Natalie. I wish I had. But even not having met her, I can still
remember her as she was, and that memory will stay with me.