![\"In](\"http:\/\/kmitchellcoaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/In-this-moment.jpg\")
When I first heard that my college roommate had died two weeks ago… I almost stopped\u00a0breathing myself. I read a post from her family on Facebook. Michele was my age, 49, when she succumbed to MSA, or Multiple System Atrophy, a rare form of Parkinson’s Disease.<\/p>\n
I\u00a0have a picture of her and I and our other good friend Jennifer from just four years\u00a0ago… prior to her diagnosis. She looks as healthy as anyone looks. She was the most\u00a0athletic person I had ever known. She was a runner, she played basketball and volleyball, and she practiced yoga and\u00a0Pilates. She was always keeping fit and cared for her body and health immensely.<\/p>\n
Michele and I\u00a0became fast friends when she moved to my hometown in 11th grade. She became fast\u00a0friends with most kids in our grade really. None of us ever recall a time of ‘getting to\u00a0know’ her, because she fit right in immediately. She was super fun and always wanted to be\u00a0hanging out with lots of people. She had an infectious smile. She accepted people and was\u00a0not judgmental of others.<\/p>\n
Michele was a practicing Catholic and had a serious faith in God, even\u00a0throughout her illness. She maintained that God was there for her no matter what\u00a0happened. In her eulogy, her brother talked about how she never complained about her\u00a0pain or disability, despite being restricted to a wheelchair in her last year and needing 24-hour care. She always maintained hope. She saw her three children off to their respective\u00a0colleges in August, and then peacefully died in her sleep a month later.<\/p>\n
I will miss Michele.\u00a0She gave me many gifts embedded in our friendship: loyalty, kindness, care and concern,\u00a0laughter and so much fun. The six years from 1985-1991 are marked with so many\u00a0memories and fondness. I am grateful for her presence in my life. She lived quite a beautiful\u00a0life… one marked with great friends, husband, and children.<\/p>\n
She inspired others to be better.\u00a0She, even in her death, inspires me to be better. Within the wake of a death, particularly\u00a0that of a younger person, comes a precious reminder of life. Life is found here, in this\u00a0moment. Not later when you retire, or in the past from a younger time… here, right in this\u00a0moment, in this space, in this time. I believe Michele understood this. I thank her now for\u00a0this reminder for my own life. I am grateful to be alive today and to witness my own\u00a0children growing up, cherishing my relationships with all my loved ones.<\/p>\n
The older I get, the\u00a0more I realize that life is all about LOVE. The bottom line is LOVE. I witnessed immense love\u00a0in that funeral home, the church…and am grateful I got a chance to reconnect back to my\u00a0memories of Michele and be with her family and my old friends.<\/p>\n
#Gratitude #Love #Oldfriends #LiveLife<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I first heard that my college roommate had died two weeks ago… I almost stopped\u00a0breathing myself. I read a post from her family on Facebook. Michele was my age, 49, when she succumbed to MSA, or Multiple System Atrophy, a rare form of Parkinson’s Disease. I\u00a0have a picture of her and I and our other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[165,108,113,156,158,90,114],"tags":[115,97,150,126,110,107],"class_list":["post-13315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-connection","category-emotions","category-empathy","category-gratitude","category-intention","category-life-transitions","category-perspective","tag-connection","tag-finding-your-tribe","tag-gratitude","tag-grief","tag-love","tag-value"],"yoast_head":"\n