Beautiful day for a beautiful soul

Thank you everyone for all the flowers! The day after the funeral, we went to the beach and took a boat into the ocean to scatter Darleen's ashes at sunset. She told my mom a long time ago after watching a movie that when she dies she wanted her ashes in the ocean so that is exactly what we did. There were birds and dolphins & all our friends and family, it was beautiful. The captain was so kind to give us the coordinates so we could go back to the same spot.

This is the eulogy that I couldn't read at the funeral.

We had our laughs, our fights, our late night talks, our schemes to get David to buy us food.

I had such a hard time thinking of one story to tell about you:

I remember when you were 12 before you were a vegetarian, I threw pizza at you because you tricked me and ordered cheese pizza instead of BBQ chicken. Sorry.

Or when we used to talk all night about boys, music, or catch up on what new crazy thing Jay (our older sister) was doing.

Or the first time you asked me to pluck your eyebrows for you and almost overnight you transformed from an ugly duckling into a peacock haha

Or when we were little and used to take baths together and try to come up with a whole bunch of love songs. We had a song that we could never finish that went "One Sunday morning, I started crying, because the love of my life's leaving me... " but I never would've guessed that the song was going to end like this.

We would take turns taking a nap in the car in the time between when we dropped off David at school and right before school started for you.

You were the balance in my life that kept me grounded, that helped me be stronger, that was there when I needed you.

Even if I got to see you everyday, I'd still feel like we didn't see each other enough whether I lived near you or 1000 miles away.

You're my baby sister, my best friend, the only person I told everything to when we talked on the phone or when I would be laying with you in your hospital bed. And I know you're gone, but you'll still be listening when I need you. And I can't wait until we meet again one day, but now is your turn to take a nap and I'll wake you up when it's mine. I love you. And I'm glad you're at peace. See you later.

-Malina