Happy Birthday, Brie

Happy 32nd Birthday, to my beautiful sister, loving mother, and extraordinary person: Brie.

Your heart is still beating. I feel, with every poignant, pressing beat, a person speaking your name. Your children are beautiful… they thrive and play in a way I can only hope to share with the world. No wonder you always had a camera in hand to document their every move. I only wish feelings could be transported from person to person as easily as images are documented. I show a picture of your children to others and say, “These are my nieces… and this is my nephew”… but… oh, how I wish I could encompass into words what they so easily place in my heart! They say pictures are worth “1,000 words,” but every one of those words falls short, dear Sister… every last one… in explaining what is felt.  Pictures are taken not just for our desire to reminisce, but to share with others. Every moment I spend with Mali, Eleri, and Curren I save… I place these feelings in my heart, and take them out from time to time to reflect upon them. The laughs of Mali and Eleri…  the gentle weight of Curren in my arms…  I feel it. However, such feeling can only be shared through an attempt in spreading it to others, which I know you did, and still do… and which is why your children continue to do so.

I was considering the word “vessel” the other day… and I realized that it was one word that unexpectedly explained so much of your life, and all that surrounds it.  You see, “vessel” is a homonym that can mean a ship, a part of our circulatory system, a container… in layman’s terms, it is something, or someone, that encompasses something. You, Sis, are a vessel. You were a vessel for your children, brought into this world in your womb. You were a vessel, carrying the very love of God. Your body was a vessel of life, giving your organs so others may live. They say people who have had organ transplants take on traits of the people who had them before, and I know that those who have yours must be blessed beyond their measure to a have a part of you in more than one area of their lives. The vessels inside you carried blood from your heart to operate every intricate operation your physical body carried out on this earth… but was contained in this vessel, this beautiful person we all miss, was even greater. For in this vessel of Brie, was a soul that is not bound like an anchor to its vessel, and a true love that knows no such containment.

Your daughters are gorgeous. I catch myself seeing glimpses of you in them often. They are living photographs, documentation of everything that you are. Like tiny vessels, they carry your love freely.

Your son is inspirational. He is only a little over a year old, and it is already evident that he has a very caring spirit. He has taught me more on his year on earth, than many who have spent decades here.

Happy Birthday, Brie Michelle. Your body a vessel… Your soul beyond it. Your message true. Like messages in a bottle, we, the vessels who were touched by the story of your life, can carry it with us. The love you gave me, emotional snapshots in my heart, I keep them locked away there… and take them out from time to time to reminisce, but, even more so, in an attempt to share them with others.

Let only praises ring with every shout from my mouth… let me proclaim this life and LIVE. Oh, yes, LIVE like you showed you could. Let me be a mere vessel of the love you have carried to me… and so many others. Happy Birthday, dear sister of mine… I miss you more than ever, but I am comforted that your presence is still ever present.

Your Sister,

Zina

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