The Funeral
“Marie was, Marie was a friend, a daughter, a student. Marie was an artist, an athlete. Marie cannot be described in just one word, or even one sentence. Describing Marie would be a book. To me Marie was more than my friend, more than my best friend even, she was my sister. Now I know you all are probably thinking that I’m just saying that because we were close. No we were sisters. We did everything together, we went everywhere together, we were planning on attending the same college. But being sisters isn't just about all the fun, and plans.
We also fought like sisters, but then we also made up because we were sisters not by blood, but by term. A sister is someone who is always there, and will always be there. Someone who loves you, who trusts you, who believes in you. Someone who you would tell anything. A sister is someone you would call if you killed someone and needed help to bury the body. And that’s what we were to each other. The second you met Marie you instantly liked her. She was just that type of person. She was loved by everyone and will be missed. You could not be mad at Marie for more than five minutes, because she would make you laugh and you would forget about what you were fighting about. What happened was an accident, and she will be missed.” I could feel my eyes filling with tears. “Once we were walking back to her house after getting ice cream from the Dairy Queen down the street, she had a vanilla cone with sprinkles, and I just had a twist cone. Anyways we were walking and she tripped on a crack in the cement. We always joked about the crack and even made a bet of five-dollars to which of us would trip over it first.
Anyways we were walking and she was too busy talking about Joe to pay attention and well she tripped. She started to fall but tried to catch herself and it was the funniest thing to watch, but anyways, I’m saying that too much, anyways, she fell and her ice cream went all over her face and shirt. As she sat on the ground covered in ice cream, I was laughing, hysterically, but she wasn't. So i stopped and I knew she wasn't hurt or anything so I said “here do you want mine?” she replied “yes, i do”. So she got up and took my cone. She proceeded to take my cone and smash it into my face smear it around a bit, then turned and ran away laughing. I wiped some ice cream from by my eyes and chased her. When I ran up to her house i didn't see her right away. I knew that she wouldn't have just went inside, i knew she was hiding somewhere. Then I heard something move and i looked to see the hose slithering across the plants and into the bush. Then literally within a second a stream of water came out of the bush. Well I think you know the rest of the story.
Haha I remember this time in the 9th grade, so two no three years ago, when her boyfriend at the time broke up with her, and so I got this gallon tub of cookies and cream ice cream, which if you know Marie,” I paused knew, past tense, I wasn't used to knew or was instead of know and is. “knew if you knew Marie you knew that cookies and cream ice cream was her all time favorite ice cream. Anyways I went to her house and we just sat on her trampoline, in the sun for about an hour, in silence eating the ice cream. Although she would never admit it she ate ¾ of that gallon. But after it was empty she started laughing. I was confused for a second. Then she said “be right back” and she took the empty tub and ran inside the house. About 5 minutes later she came out with the tub filled to the brim with eggs. She stood there just smiling at me. I looked at her and laughed. “You know this is illegal right?” I said. She set the tub down and laughed. She always found a reason to laugh about any situation.” Again I paused, I looked up and around and smiled. I just took a second to take in all the people that came. Sure there was her family, but then there were kids from school who didn't really know her, and people from the community. All of these people came for her. Some were just people who she might have smiled to if she seen in public even if she didn't know them. I smiled.
“She went into the house again but when she came out she had a board. On this board was every picture of them together, or every picture of him that she had. She leaned the board against the garage, got the eggs and got on the trampoline. She started to jump and she got and egg in her hand, but she stopped. She put the egg back in the tub, sat the tub down, and got off the trampoline. She walked into her garage and came out with three sharpies two were red, the other black. She handed me a red one and sat down in front of the board. She started drawing X’s and faces on the pictures, and so did I. When every picture had at least one mark on it she took the black sharpie and drew a big target over all the pictures. She stood up, and got back on the trampoline, got the eggs, and while jumping threw the eggs at the target or at individual pictures. Now Marie played softball, and she had impeccable aim. While throwing the eggs she was shouting things, names, whatever name you can imagine I’m sure she said it. I stood beside the trampoline smiling and laughing at some of the names she came up with.
After the eggs were gone she threw the tub. Then she laid down on the trampoline in the sun. I climbed up and lied down next to her. She looked at me smiled and said “ Do you want to go swimming?” as if nothing happened. In a matter of moments her face went from raging mad to smiley and giggly. That's just how she was. I think that's what I loved most about her. Her ability to get over things easily, to get mad and then move on. Marie will be missed.” I went and sat back in the pew.
The rest of the service was beautiful. Her mom said a few words and then we were led in a prayer of goodbye. After the service we went to the cemetery and laid Marie to rest. Her tombstone read:
Marie Rose Valentine
Daughter and Friend
June 11, 1997- March 14, 2015
She was loved and lost
The crowd slowly dwindled until it was just her immediate family and me.
“It was beautiful, what you said.”
I turned around to see her cousin Susanna. Susanna was 16 her mother died of cancer when she was 6 and her father was well lets just say he was incapable of raising a child, so she lived with Marie and her parents.
“Uh thanks”
“Are you coming to the lunch”
She sounded so chipper but sad. Like she was trying to be happy because she knew they couldn't handle another break down.
“No, I um, I’m just going to go home.”
There was no way that I could go to that lunch, no way. I wouldn't make it, It was hard enough to get through the eulogy without breaking. There is just no way I could get through the Lunch in with all the ‘I'm sorrys’ and the ‘I know how close you two were’, No I wasn't going. But I wasn't going home either. I started to walk to my car when someone grabbed my arm. It was Charlotte, Marie’s Mother. She said two words
“Thank you”
She managed a smile too. I smiled back and said
“You're welcome, and anytime you need anything or just want to talk, anything just call and I’ll be right over.”
She smiled and I walked away.
