An ode to Amy

Surrounded by red canyons. I wrapped my hand around the strings of the yellow balloon and jumped. My feet lifted off the ground and I sailed through the air over a large blue river, my friends floating down it on rafts. I landed by the river bank. Then I woke up.

Amy laid beside me. I rolled over and looked at her thick brown hair and soft face. I traced her cheekbones. She is my yellow balloon.

Amy is genuinely in love with life. I’ve come to realize that’s a rare gift as we age. She seems to grow more fond of it as she grows older. She still sees the magic. But not in that annoying kind of way. She’s balanced like that.

She sees it and shows it in a way that makes you realize it never left.

You know when you were 22 and you just knew you could and would do all the things, all the adventures, all the accomplishments. Then you hit 32 and made more practical plans so you could buy a house and have health insurance.

Amy still knows she will have all the adventures and achieve all the accomplishments and she knows you will too. And she has weaved that feeling into the fabric of those practical plans.

Amy is a healer – by trade and nature. A tenderness runs through her and it washes over the wounds of those she loves. She can find the hurt and work it out. She works wrapped in calm.

She finds us broken and restless and applies the oils and lays our heads down. And we trust her. We need her.

Amy lets you be whoever, whatever you are on this day or that. That flexibility in acceptance of a person’s identity takes a courage to let go of expectations. To let go of what is tomorrow and what was yesterday.

Amy’s beauty radiates on and on. Amy is gorgeous. She is the kind of beauty you can’t bottle up. She is the kind of lovely you can’t apply with a few brush strokes. She is a beauty built on kindness and magic.

She talks me through the darkest hours with this voice that drips with honey. Placing a hand on my shoulder with a proud look on her face. She tells me to keep going. She keeps me afloat. She is my yellow balloon.