greg wojahn died a little over a week ago.
on friday, i went to his memorial service.

he was much too young to die, and by all accounts he had come into the best time of his life before he got sick.

having been down a parallel path with mummy, i truly understand the intimacy of fighting cancer with someone you love. so in an odd way i understand that while he was sick, he got to experience love on a level that was truly more intimate than the love we feel when all is well. and he was already a joyful, loving person.

i went to see a shrink after mummy was diagnosed. he was trying to prepare me for what was to come and he explained to me that people often become an exaggerated version of their very core when they face such incredible adversity. for example, jerks become bigger jerks. the recurring theme on friday was the grace and sweetness that greg exhibited throughout everything...the chemo,the spinal taps, everything. his very core was lovely.

as in mummy's case, he took care of everyone around him throughout the whole battle. he was their strength.

i've been away from l.a. for many years now, and i hadn't seen greg or his brothers for quite some time. all three of them have been very kind to me, and to my best friend gab, and to my little sister. they're all lovely, and so funny. but i have one more adjective that seemed to always stick with greg in particular and that was "faithful." he was a man of faith. that brought me a great deal of comfort on friday.

while i often catch myself living my life as if i were a hamster on a wheel, he was mindful of things and people and ideas and his underlying calm, his faith, allowed him to be "in the moment" in a way that i aspire to be.

another thing that was a gentle reminder on friday, was the clear picture that was painted by his memorial service. the message was clear, if we just do a good job loving the people around us we will be able to say our lives were well lived.

but i still think his life was way too short.