Rest easy, Amber

It was going to be a different post this morning. One with food, simmering aromas and joy. But my heart just isn't in it and I can't make myself post it. Instead, I'll post some words written 4 years ago by my friend Amber when she realized her life's dream and was accepted into vet school. Amber had been working for many years as a vet tech, working towards this dream, and one day all the stars lined up. She moved from CA to IA, joined school, moved into a lovely home with her partner, and started the rest of her life. This year, she started her final year of vet school. Two nights ago, she died in her sleep.

Amber was part of a large online community which I post in. Many of us have met in person, stayed in each others houses, dog sat for each other, and held hands through the worst times of our lives. We've know each other for more than 8 years. So when she wrote these words on the day she got into vet school, the power of her dreams helped us all wake up and walk forward a little bit. Today, I would like to remember Amber like this. And I hope that if someone out there is reading this with a seed of a dream in their heart, it gives them a little nudge to go after it. Her words follow:

Best day of my life!!!

Today marks the unraveling of a life-long dream. I hope that everyone can, at least once, know how this feels, to have a little crazy dream that started as a seed before you can even remember, and you've nourished and coddled it, and a few times other people criticized it so you've been afraid to show to the world because maybe it was too frail, to carry this with you, and when you are low maybe you put it on a shelf and told yourself you didn't deserve it, and when you finally picked it up and dusted it off you realized your life could never be complete without it, so you went after it with all your heart and suffered all the ups and down you thought you could bear to see this thing realized. And then one day, out of the blue, all of your hard work paid off, and all of the ups & downs you'd suffered along the way were suddenly worth it. And everything you'd ever hoped for, ever dreamed you could want or be, was suddenly laid out before you for the taking. I hope that everyone can feel this joy once in their lives.

Today I was accepted into vet school at Iowa State.

I'M GOING TO BE A VET!!!!

~Farewell, sweet Amber~