Many people wanted to read what Ren said at mom’s memorial. Here it is!
\n
\u201cIn twenty years, when I die, I\u2019d like you to say something at my funeral.\u201d
\n\u201cOnly if you promise to do the same at mine,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
We sat for a minute and I told her, \u201cyou know Joellen, I didn\u2019t come all the
\nway out here to say goodbye. I only came all the way out here to say hello.\u201d
\nLike all of you, I have the privilege to have lived in Joellen\u2019s Universe, a plane
\nexisting somewhere between the fifth and sixth dimensions, where the sound of her laughter is only ever eclipsed by the report of her .357 \u2013 where wrong turns on the highway become greater adventures unto themselves \u2013 where strangers become lifelong friends. Rarely, if ever, lives a lover of life like Joellen, so how then can I begin to say something that approaches the scope of her effect on all of us?<\/p>\n
For starters, look around. I\u2019m willing to bet you see a lot of people here you
\nknow. I\u2019m also willing to bet there are more people here that you don\u2019t know,
\npeople you\u2019ve never seen before – strangers. And we represent only a fraction of the people whose lives intersected with Joellen\u2019s. I used to joke that she collected friends like some people collect stamps or rare coins: in surplus \u2013 but each one unique.<\/p>\n
No matter where you go with Joellen, you run into someone who knows her:
\nThat cop over there? Knows Joellen. Clergyman from anywhere in the tri-state area? Knows Joellen. Tough looking guy in the leather jacket? Chances are he knows Joellen. People who don\u2019t even speak English\u2026<\/p>\n
We exist here, together, in this place and at this exact moment because of
\nJoellen. She connects us all, like dots, to each other. She is the one definitive thing we all have in common, and yet all of us have been affected by her in different ways. And that\u2019s because Joellen never sat idly by, she tackled life and rolled with it, the whole thing one big adventure, picking us up along the way. <\/p>\n
I am endlessly inspired by Joellen, I look at her life and her accomplishments
\nand I am awed:<\/p>\n
Who just writes a book one day and gets it published? Joellen does.
\nWho takes the weight of unimaginable grief and handles it like a medicine ball, becoming stronger by it rather than folding under it? Joellen does.<\/p>\n
Joellen was one of the few people who realized that \u201cstrength\u201d
\nand \u201coptimism\u201d is the same thing, that life isn\u2019t very interesting unless you\u2019re the underdog more than half the same, and that anything can be done just by doing it. <\/p>\n
Just by doing it. Carpe Diem comes to mind.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not alone when I say that Joellen changed my life. I couldn\u2019t give
\nyou an exact moment when it happened, there\u2019s a lot to choose from. Some of them I promised not to repeat. And this, this is also a moment where Joellen changes my life. By asking me to say something here at her memorial, she has put into motion these very thoughts, these remembrances of her, this celebration of her life and her lessons.<\/p>\n
At then end of her book, Joellen says, \u201cas we walk down the path in life, I
\nencourage you to remember those who have meant so much to you and to savor those moments whenever you can.\u201d In the spirit of that thought, I would like to use this moment, this moment that Joellen has given us, to do just that. A moment where we all agree that we didn\u2019t come all the way out here just to say goodbye – we only came all the way out here to just say hello.<\/em><\/p>\n
-Ren Bell
\n1.18.10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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