Another Star In The Firmament

Today was a sad day. Today we said goodbye to Gina, someone I will forever be proud to have known & called my friend. Gina lost her battle with Cystic Fibrosis on Monday 22 December 2008, shortly after 33rd birthday.

Gina was one of life's doer's. Where a lesser person would have bemoaned the hand that fate had dealt them, used it as an excuse, given in. She never did, she never once let her condition define who she was and never stopped fighting.

Funny, feisty, loyal, loving, friendly, generous, independent, determined & stubborn. All adjectives one could use to describe her. In all honesty, despite knowing her since childhood I didn't really 'know' her for all that long. But I'm glad that I had the chance. Her warmth, spirit and passion were infectious. Her quiet strength & dignity an inspiration.

Perhaps it was because she always knew that time was never really on her side that she lived her life to the fullest or perhaps it was because it was just who she was but the more I think about it the more I believe we should all live that way. We might get our 'four score' or our 'three score & ten' but there again we might not. So grab it with both hands. No regrets or at least regret the things you did, rather than the things you didn't. You can't just play at this life. For all we know we only get the one. (You might believe in a next life, or a past life, or some other place but all of these things have yet to be proven.) As for Gina, her physical time her may be over but whilst her memory remains in our hearts, she'll never really be gone.