Emotional creature

When you move far away from the only life you’ve ever really known you try to adapt while still trying to remain true to who you are. It’s difficult to control your emotions when you’re in an unpredictable environment. But you do. You do because it somehow feels safer and doesn’t alert unwanted attention.

That doesn’t mean emotion isn’t present, emotion is always present. Chemicals surge though our cerebral cortex causing firing squads of emotions every moment. We are emotional creatures.

Today I learned that a dear friend, teacher, advisor, and mentor lost her battle to cancer. Suddenly a surge of memories ran through my mind. Times from college when she advised me which classes to take, times in psych club when she laughed with us, times during movie night when we looked to understand underlying meanings, times when I needed someone to talk to, times when I needed somewhere to get away, chapel talks, projectors, stories about her family, jokes, lunch meetings, the best hugs…. On and on and on. I’m going to miss her but I have no doubt where she is and will be excited to see her again one day.

But I’m an emotional creature and I’m going to miss my beloved friend. Perhaps if I were home I would spend the day remembering with friends how she made all of our lives just a little better.