On Thursday one of my best highschool friends went on to meet her maker and I think, no matter who it is, it's never easy to see someone young and full of life die. At 25 you're supposed to be planning a wedding, going to baby showers, having fun with friends- not fighting leukemia and getting bone marrow transplants. Lacey did face all of this with great fortitude and strength, but that didn't make it any easier to watch, or, any easier for her to handle!
I was thinking back to the first time that I met Lacey and it was over 10 years ago, she was starting her sophomore year at Lincoln and I was in my junior year. She joined the cheer and stunt team and instantly made herself well liked and a star. That was how she was- she couldn't even help it, it seemed like when she walked into a room people instantly fell in love with her. The best part about her was that she didn't wear the coolest clothes, she didn't worry about making sure she had tons of make up on before she came to school, I know that she cared about what other people thought about her, 'cause what kid doesn't, but Lacey really lived by her own rules and she inspired me to do the same!! I don't know why, but for some reason Lacey and I just clicked. We both cheered for wrestling, she started dating my stunt partner, and pretty much the rest is history. We went swimming in the summer, we stunted after school and before school and hung out in our coaches room during school, we shared seats on the bus, she shared a bed when we slept over places, and we often rode in to school together! I had my drivers' liscense before her, since I was a year older, so I drove us around that first year, but the next year my sister moved home and I lost my car to her, so Lacey drove me around! :) One of my fondest memories of Lacey is that we would go to McDonalds and get fruit and yogurt parfaits, drive to the park and sit on the swings laughing and eating those parfaits! To this day I love fruit and yogurt parfaits at McD's, because it brings back all those sweet memories. We also shared a love for those chocolate cadburry eggs...one year after Easter we pooled our money and went and bought as many as we could afford- I don't know how many it was, but we had at least a shopko bag full! I don't know if we got sick of eating them, but I do know that we stashed them all over, so that we'd always have them if we needed a little pick me up during the school day!
During my senior year one of our cheerleaders, Amber Rahn, died in a car accident. It was one of the most heartbreaking things that I had gone through up until that point and that night, Lacey, her boyfriend, and a friend of his, came over to my house and sat on the living room floor, drinking hot chocolate and just reminiscing about her...later, on Amber's birthday, Lacey and I drove out to the site of the accident and just sat there crying, together. We didn't even need words, because we both knew what the loss meant to us! That's what good friends are- people who will be there for you, with words when you need to hear them, but more often than not, just tears and a shared shoulder!
Unfortunately, as with most highschool friendships, Lacey and I lost contact with each other and drifted apart. We still saw each other every once in a while and kept up on facebook, but it would never be the same! I guess life is like that- we all change and life changes around us! I know, though, that I will never forget Lacey- it's hard to look at any of my pictures from highschool and not see her and it's impossible to think back to highschool and not have her in my thoughts! I have been praying, though, that her death would make each one of us who knew her think about our own destinies...her life was short and it gives me pause to think about what I've accomplished and what I should be worrying about. It's so easy to get caught up with the mundane aspects of life, but, really, it is what we are doing with Jesus Christ, that matters, not how clean our houses are, or how well dressed our babies are, or even if they've had a bath recently- all of that is trivial compared to the question of where we will spend eternity. Lord willing, Lacey made that decision to accept Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior, before she came face to face with Him, and I can only hope that each one of us makes that choice!
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