Tina

"Give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break"

~William Shakespeare

  

My mom met Tina in 1986, on her first day of teaching. They travelled to school together every morning and over the next few years, became best of friends. 

I think the reason Tina's passing made me so sad, was more for my mom and her family. I know, and I'm sure we all know what it is like to make a friend for life. One who, no matter how little you see them as you grow older - that when you do, they still make you smile just as wide as you used to in the beginning stages of your friendship. This was Tina to my mom, and to many, many others as well.

My mom and Tina remained friends all through the time my mom lived in Klerksdorp, and she told me that as soon as she fell pregnant with me, Tina was the obvious choice to be my godmother. My mom told me stories about how Tina let me suck on her thumb when I was crying at my Christening.

When Tina was disgnosed with Cancer, surprisingly - it didn't bother me as much as it should have. Because the first thought that popped into my head was that she is one of the strongest, most positive people I know - she will get through this.

While I was in England Tina lived out her life, just as happily and lovingly as she always did - and when I got back, we had a picnic for her to celebrate her getting through chemotherapy. I remember how she just smiled, as if nothing in the world could bring her down - and even though she had lost all her gorgeous curly hair, she still saw the world for all its beauty.

We saw her again before I went to Rhodes at the beginning of last year and I remember being worried about how Journalism was going to be, and had a nice to Tina about how excited I was anyway. She told me then that it didn't matter how I thought it was going to be, but how I tackled it with an open mind that would make me love or hate it. 

She was one of those people that had such a pure heart, and always gave the right advice. But not in an annoying, just-be-happy kind of way. She gave it so thoughtfully and with so much care that it was genuine, and made you smile in the end anyway. She lived every day with a smile, and gave a happiness to her family and friends that is not easy to find in everyone. She embraced all the good in her life, and lived out the bad with the right approach so it would not be that bad in the end anyway.

When Tina passed away on the 13 May 2011, she left behind an abundance of people she touched with her heart. She left with a sense of acceptance, and seemed already at peace in her final moments. But most of all, Tina left with as much or even more love around her as she spread in her 47 years here.

Maybe life is not as unfair as we think. Maybe the worst things don't always happen to the best of people. Maybe the best of people come here to live a beautiful life, make other people's lives beautiful, and then leave - even though it may seem too early for them to - wanting us to do the same.

After all, we acquire the strength we have overcome. I will carry on living my life like Tina did hers - I know there is no better way to do it.

We all love and miss you Tina.