Renee

Welcome Home, Renee

There are teachers that walk among us.  If we are very lucky, we will run into at least one in our lifetime.  Renee was one such teacher, a lady so gentle and unassuming, so wise and full of love, she wasn't even aware of her considerable gifts. 

Renee died yesterday.  She was surrounded by a family who cherished her.  And she will be forever remembered by a community of friends who grew to love her over the too few years she wrote and gathered us around.

She had IBC, a rare form of breast cancer, but she was an amazing fighter and determined to educate anyone who would listen about this silent stalker.  We watched her fight and learned about cancers and treatments and witnessed her joys and anquish as they occured.  Her courage took my breath away.  This was a public dying, an unselfish cautionary tale meant to warn and inform.   But that is not what happened.

This lesson was about living.  Renee could laugh and cry and be furious at the top of her lungs and we were right there beside her.  She introduced us to her loving family, who became our family as well.  She shared her friends, her fears and irritations and told us hilarious stories about her life.  And we shared ours with her and each other.  Before long, we were a village.  We are now and forevermore, a worldwide family from a planet without borders and our ties are strong. 

Renee said she had to learn to live with birds circling her head.  But those birds were eagles.  And now she flies with them to where stars are born.  She was always golden stardust and now she is home.  Soar free, my dearest friend.  I will hold you in my heart forever.

xoxo right back at you

Courage

I think this is pretty funny.  It just strikes my funny bone the right way to get me giggling.  I know Renee will laugh too.

But courage isn't anything like this, is it?  The big dramatic poses are usually foolhardy and unnecessary.  True courage slips by with a whisper.  It doesn't draw attention to itself. 

Courage is learned in increments.  Little steps along the road, one challenge met building upon another.  Along with other life lessons in kindness, consideration, fairness, humor, industry and responsibility, a moral fiber becomes who you are. 

Courage is easy to recognize.  It's almost always the thing you want to do least of all or that frightens you the most.  The thing you don't think you can face.  You absolutely do not want to do it.

But you do it anyway.

Renee is a woman with so much courage that it would take your breath away.  Her challenges are monumental, yet she rarely speaks of personal suffering in a way that makes anyone uncomfortable.  She is funny, warm, fiesty, loving, insightful and accessible, the one you want to be your next door neighbor.  Gentleness is her trademark.  Courage lies, unassuming, in her smiles.

Honor the courage you see.