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To say that Bayla was a
friend simply does not do justice.
To say that Bayla was selfless and caring does not do justice.
To say that Bayla was patriotic does not do justice.
To say that Bayla was trustworthy does not do justice.
To say that Bayla was worldly does not do justice.
To say just how much I cared for Bayla, nearly impossible.
As many of my friends, I had come to know Bayla via the Internet and a
common love : cruise travel. She, along with a group of others,
would become close to me as we all discussed our travels and
lives. Bayla and I continued to bond on a personal and independent
level and could chat for hours online about nearly everything and
anything. The laughs that we shared were limitless.
I was finally able to
put a name to a face as I met her and her life partner, Grant, back in
April of 2000. That was simply the punctuation of our ongoing
friendship. From that time forward, I found Bayla to be closer of
a confidant than many physically close to me. Many a time she knew
what I was thinking or feeling before I could even say it myself.
As our lives progressed and as society began to drastically change, we
found ourselves discussing much more than just cruise travel. I
moved to Seattle and then "9-11-01" occurred days
thereafter. She was there every step of the way and we consoled
and encouraged each other. As we would see people we knew begin to
change themselves or even pass away, we found a new common discussion
theme : sudden life changes.
A common thread among our conversations ended in "you just never
know what could happen" and "truly value all that you have as
one just never knows". We would discuss this feeling quite
confident ourselves in our personality, relationships, and health.
Weekend became our best opportunity to really sit down and chat with few
other distractions and we'd lead each other through our weekend goings
on.
Sunday, January 12th was to become a painful and striking culmination of
all that we had ever talked about. One click of an e-mail changed
my life. The horrifying words that I read, I chose to deny for a
glimpse. I dared to even chuckle imagining it a cruel and nasty
joke. An instantaneous reality check, however, told me otherwise
and I shut down.
It was never like Bayla to become weak and remote after a crisis but,
rather, to use her resources to stand back up and then to even help
others. I called upon this strength of hers and did the same to
cultivate a stronger relationship among our online friends.
Counterproductive expressions still rage through my mind : "It
cannot happen to Bayla", "It should not have been her",
"Why her?", "This is truly the unthinkable."
"It", however, "is"
Bayla has done all that one can even hope to accomplish in one's
lifetime. She has traveled her most to her most beloved
places. She has found love in a most dynamic lifetime
companion. She has reached out across the globe to touch
lives. She has used her words to help make decisions and to lessen
the hurt that may come from it. She generated her own business
operations and began to already touch lives in a new way with that she
loved the most.
"Bayla Lynne Mack .. you have truly left a legacy in this great big
and complex world of ours. Neither words nor actions can express
my gratitude for having had you in my life. I promise to pick up
your best and truest qualities to radiate your positive energy. I
will fight the tears off and yet follow your own advice to get up and
take on the world. I will do all of this with your beautiful smile
as an everlasting background."
~ Steve J. Garrod |
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