When I was told of Julie`s accident, I spent some time thinking about the what ifs, what if I had gone home at lunchtime, what if she had run another route (she had loads to choose from). But, after a couple of days, I realised that I had missed some. What if I had never used dating direct and seen an intriguing photo of a small blond lady running? What if I had not decided to make contact and meet her?
I would not have gone skiing in Andorra with the girls and got lost at midnight, having driven 260km in the wrong direction. Julie`s solution to that problem, was to amuse the girls by dancing on the ceiling of the hire car until the girls fell asleep and we arrived tired, but still happy at 3am. And we would not have shared the best time ever in Gambia together, when despite me throwing myself out of the Jacuzzi 20minutes after arriving; we had a beautiful holiday never out of each other’s company.
We often used to joke at home about Julie being the shortest, a fact not lost on Julie, but in reality she always towered above us all with her love and determination to meet any challenge, doing her very best for those she loved and cared for.
If Julie ever sat down and relaxed at home, it was always a significant event noted by the rest of us. She was always planning and doing things to make our lives the best she could, from planning our futures or simply making sure people had clean clothes for school.
As I think you all know, Julie loved her running, second only to her family and passed on that love to many of us here. She would never let you say,” no I can`t”, and would tell you,” yes you can” over and over until you believed it and did!
Despite her tragic death, I consider myself to be, without doubt, the luckiest man on this planet. I have met my soul mate and shared Julie`s love for 4 years. We filled this time with a lifetime of memories and she will always be with me. So much of who I am now, is Julie.
She would make me feel ten feet tall every-time we went anywhere together, her smile and those lovely blue eyes lighting up the room around us.
Julie`s loss is devastating for all of us, but in leaving us, she has set us another challenge, to try to match up to her love of life, its challenges and the people around us, and drive ourselves to be half as good as her.
I miss you Gorgeous, love you!
Chris
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I am so sorry to hear about the loss of Julie. She was so nice, so kind. She loved her family, that much I know. It is a great shame. Thank you so much for putting this blog together as somewhere to go to remember her. I was only an ex-colleague of Julie's, but she was always contactable, always there to offer help or advice and she always sent me a text on my birthday (how did she do that?). Julie, you may be gone, but you are not forgotten and never will be. x Lucy Milomo
ReplyDelete