Fireflies

As part of my prev med talk to teenagers when they come in for their school or sports physicals, I say, "the number one cause of death in people under 24 are accidents". I talk to them about seatbelts, drunk driving, helmets when biking...

A friend recently lost a co-worker a few weeks ago. He may have been drunk and just fallen overboard or off the dock and drowned. And then his friend's ex died in a car accident. He felt overwhelmed and shocked by it. And I remember people I knew, who had died when they were in their twenties. So young, too soon.

Joy was a cellist. She wanted and was determined to become a doctor. I could hear it in her voice when I was just getting to know her in college. She was intelligent, laid-back, and was passionate, but she loved to hang out with her friends, and laugh a lot. Our med tech class was a dozen. We were close; it was weird studying microbes and the tiny things that make up health and medicine. But then, we would go out canoeing or sailing with our instructors; or Disneyland. One of our outings, was over to Riverside to hear Joy in concert. I always loved the cello. Maybe one day, I'll go back to La Sierra, and make them dig in their archives for that concert.

I think Joy's hair was lavender the last time I saw her. But it may have turned back to blond or black again.

I still wonder why she left here. Wilan had said that she and her boyfriend of San Diego had just broken up the weekend before. She wrote letters; and her family was so ashamed, they did not hold a memorial service for her.

Joy, I know you are a healer now, even if you couldn't stay and be one here.

Fireflies - a song by Lori McKenna