Mine Would Be You

Four years ago, I wrote an open letter to my Aunt Becky who passed away in September of 2012. It’s been eight years since you left this world, definitely leaving it a better place than when you entered it.

We had twelve years together. Twelve years wasn’t enough, but I will cherish the way those years impacted my life, forever.

I learned so much from you and I continue to learn from you.

As I have gotten older, I have reflected on the life you lived and there is no doubt you were 100% unapologetically yourself.

Your life may not have always been the pink sparkles and fun sun glasses that everyone saw; however, your pursuit of happiness taught everyone around you to not always take life so seriously.

You lived by your own rules, completely unphased by societies standards.

I admire you for that greatly, especially since I’ve learned how hard that can be to do.

You know when people use that corny icebreaker question... “If you could have lunch with one person who’s passed away, who would it be?”.

Mine would be you.

Yeah, I’m not trying to be cliché because I know you would probably hate that question.

But, mine WOULD be you.

Not just because I miss you a lot, because I do.

I would choose you because as I have grown, I’ve reflected on who you were as a person. I can’t help but think about how similar we are.

I lost you when I was young and I didn’t really know who I was yet.

Now, I would ask you about what living in the city (Chicago) was really like… because I want to live there so bad.

I would ask your advice on writing the perfect article or what it was like working for the newspaper.

I would talk to you about the latest conspiracy theory that’s hit Twitter.

And of course, I would ask who wins the bachelorette because well…you always knew.

Your free spiritedness wore off on me in the best way.

I can’t wait until I can actually grab lunch with you up in the clouds and we can catch up.

The world misses you.

Raise your glass to Becky today. ♡