Joy

A while back I posted a bit about my friend Joy. She passed away some weeks ago from cancer. She was a really amazing, giving person who I don't think realized what a gift she was to her friends.

Today we had a celebration of her life up in the mountain town of Idyllwild which is where I met her. It was so nice. A group of us met in a small space about the size of a living room. No fancy church, no podiums, no microphones. Basically people just shared memories of their time with Joy. Hearing other people's stories helped reinforce my loving feelings about her. She touched so many lives in a positive way!

She loved speculating about spiritual concepts. She was very well read and I would sometimes get chills when we talked - that kind of chill you get when you feel that you're experiencing truth.

One person told a story that when she last talked to her, she asked Joy to send some kind of sign from the "other side" confirming that we go on after this particular earthly experience. Thanksgiving weekend this woman was home alone when the electricity went out. She said that she is sort of reclusive and just lit some candles. A neighbor came by and asked if she wanted to come over as they had some guests there and they were socializing by candlelight. Her first thought was to decline but then she decided to go. She enjoyed herself and thought that Joy would have liked this gathering. When she came home she found one of her books with the cover open so that it could stand upright on her nightstand. She hadn't left it there and she never left books standing up like that. It was the Dali Lama's book about Happiness, one that Joy had recommended that she read. She figured that this was Joy's sign from beyond.

I'm Grateful to have known Joy. Her given name was Joyce but at some point she changed it. It suits her well. The thing she kept telling people toward the end of her life is that it doesn't matter how long you live, it matters how you live your life. She's not the first person to have said it but apparently she got this point through to many people. She was an amazing example of this!