As I pause to remember a dear coworker, Carolyn, who passed from this earth on this day last year, I am reminded of the words of the great Roman philosopher Seneca who observed that "things hard to bear are sweet to remember."
Losing Carolyn was a painful blow to all who knew and loved her, and how could anyone not love her? Despite being more gravely ill than most of us realized, Carolyn was always smiling and upbeat, going about her life without squandering a moment.
She was my Secret Santa one year and each special surprise I got was funnier than the last. She didn't know me well personally, but managed to make me unique little gifts reflecting incredible insight into who I am as a person and what I take most delight in.
Carolyn was deeply invested in our clients and wanted everyone she worked with to know the joy of reading. This gift of giving continues each day at Langsford, as instructors pull out hand-drawn "game boards" that Carolyn lovingly made so that the kids she taught would have reading and spelling games to play with favorites like Sponge Bob, or puppies, or robots to entice them to practice their new skills.
In our staff room you will find a canvas of bright green, a backdrop for a painting of sunflowers she'd planned on doing for us. In some ways it's proven to be better by not being finished. I think each of us who looks at it are pulled into the variations of green and led down a road of memories of Carolyn that seem to take form and shape from the clouds of color.
While losing her was hard to bear, Carolyn's spirit lives on within the walls of Langsford and the hearts of us all.
In loving memory of Carolyn Oakley
12/02/1958 -- 04/26/2010
