"life is short but sweet for certain"

The past week has been like a blur to me. It has been filled with grief, sorrow and uncertaintity. On March 27th, Michelle Calverley passed away in a tragic car accident at 2pm. Michelle was a hall director at RIC and though she was not my direct supervisor, I have been touched with the same grief. It is so difficult to explain to people how I knew her when they ask. If you are not part of a reslife staff in someway it is almost impossible to imagine the type of relationships we share. Michelle was a supervisor to us, a friend, confidant, a helping hand, a friendly smile and a heart of gold. As RAs and HDs we are all bonded by our unique work enviornment, the situations we encounter and the moments we share. These are not only co-workers, they are our friends, neighbors, and classmates. There is seldom a day that passes that I do not see mostly everyone I work with. When we are not working we are still all together. Almost all of my friends at school are RAs or HDs. So when people ask, "did you know her personally?" I can only say yes. To explain it would be too much.

Michelle was hired at the time I was hired as an RA. I remember being put off my her huge lip ring and boisterous laugh. Yet as the time passed and memories were made she became a dear friend. Her impromtu dance parties in a parking lot, her need to wear flip flops year-round, despite the foot of snow on the ground, our shared love of history and museums and historic places made me love her. I would go into the office just to say hi and sit in her office for a minute to chat or tell her about my latest history paper. I would borrow books from her personal library to write my papers. Over the past 2 years she has become such a fixture on our campus and it is hard to imagine her not here anymore. On Saturday, a service was held to celebrate her life. We took a coach bus to the Cape where she was from to attend together. At the church, we took over an entire section of seats. It was a beautiful service full of joyful memories shared by her family and friends. It was funny because I wished she was there too to share the moment with everyone.

One of my favorite memories I have of Michelle that I will choose to remember her by is of last summer during RA training we were on our way to a pawsox game and the Pink song "your hand" came on. Michelle proceeded to have the most intense one woman dance party in the front seat, hands waving, hair flying, eyes closed loving that song. I am lucky enough to have snapped a picture of this moment that I will treasure forever.

Michelle, you have had a lasting impact on my life. Thank you for all you have done for me; teaching me to swim, helping me with history papers, humoring me and my love of the american revolution even though you preferred WWII, sharing in dance parties and always being happy to be alive and living each day like it could be your last. Your untimely death has shown me the fraility of life and the ease with which it can be taken away fo suddenly. I wish I had had time to yell more to you as you drove away that afternoon, to tell you that I loved you and thought you were a beautiful person. So from this day forward I will make a conscious effort to tell each person I hold dear to my heart how special they are to me and to thank them for being in my life, because after all, life is short but sweet for certain.