In Loving Memory of my Aunt Dara

“If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.”

--Author Unknown

As you may have heard my Aunt Dara died Tuesday (Valentine’s Day). The Wednesday before, she was taken to the hospital after an accident. She was not supposed to make it through the night but she lived 6 more days! She was always a fighter. Now I’m not much of a person to share my feelings in person. Not many people have seen me cry or show those emotions. Today I will get to say my good byes to her. I want to share some memories though first.

One of my first memories that I can remember of my Aunt Dara was when I was five. My uncle, she, and my cousin Nathan were living in Florida at the time. My parents took me to Disney, and we stopped by for a few days. They have a red Mustang convertible. Well while I was there I became the coolest five year old ever! My aunt took me for a little ride around Florida with the top down. She had REALLY long red hair and I had long curly brown hair. I remember sitting beside her giggling because I saw her beautiful hair blowing in the wind. I remember the feeling of the wind blowing against my face. But, let me tell you, I thought I was the COOLEST kid around!

My next memory was when they were transitioning to move back to PA. My uncle would come pick me up and take me places. Well we went to see some movie (I’m not sure what). It was winter and he was pumping gas when my aunt called. So he gave me the phone to talk to her. She was talking about going to the movies with Nathan to see that Snow Dog movie (I’m not sure of the real name but it had cute little huskies in it). I was so jealous but I remember being soooooooo excited to hear her voice on the other side of the line.

When I was a sophomore or junior I was playing summer softball. She and my uncle sat near the fence in the outfield because I was playing left field. I was actually playing against a family friend and my dad was coaching. She really did not understand what was going on, but when I was just standing out there she would cheer, “Go Brit!” After the game my uncle was like, “Dara was cheering for you, but not while you were doing anything.” And she replied, “Well she needed to know she was doing a good job.” I could hear her and every time I would just smile. If you know anything about me and sports I used to get so down on myself and if I made a mistake I would cry. So I needed that.

At all of our family events my grandma always has a craft. A lot of my good memories of her are of when we did crafts together. Sometimes she had problems with her hands and she would be so happy when one of us helped her.

One of my favorite memories is of graduation. I did the invocation during the ceremony. Because of being in a wheelchair she got a really good view of me. After it was all over, she told me I was beautiful and how proud she was of me. Then she told me about how she loved the verses I quoted in my prayer. While she was dying a friend sent me one of those verses not knowing how much it meant.

Something I will always remember about my Aunt Dara is Sunday School. She always wanted to go, so my mom convinced my uncle to let her. We would take her in the creepy elevator to the church basement for class. The Spirit would always overwhelm her and she would just cry and be so happy. :) Then she would write down EVERY prayer request so she could pray for anyone who needed it. I remember the one time she talked about how amazing my uncle was and how much she loved her boys. It was so neat to hear.

She went to the beach with us numerous times. Our family has many memories there. But I’ll only share two. The first is when she wanted to touch the sand. Her inability to go down restricted her to the house. One of the first times she went while in the wheelchair, my uncle took her down to the beach. I remember her carrying her down to the water to feel the sand and the water on her feet. The next is from last year. My best friend Marissa was with us. She told Marissa she loved her hair and gave her hair ties. Then she told me she wanted me to remember her while I was at college and gave me her favorite pen. I’m too afraid to use it though.

For her last birthday my grandma, Aunt Karla, mom and two cousins took her out for “girls’ lunch.” She got soup and salad from Olive Garden. She laughed and talked like girls do. :) Part way through the meal she looked up with tears in her eyes and said, “Thank you for a family to me.”

My last memory (literally) of my Aunt Dara was from the last time I saw her. For Christmas our families went out for dinner at G&M. She talked to the waiter (super cute). Then when we were leaving she said, “Good luck with college. Love you.” I replied with a hug and “Love you.” And from there that was it.

I’m going to miss the random phone calls, crafts, laughs, hugs, and above all else her smile. Today is going to be hard, but the beauty of it is…Heaven has the prettiest angel.

R.I.P. Aunt Dara