A Friend’s Eulogy by Eleanor Kelsey
* A video showing the minion soap dispenser is at the end of the eulogy *
Emily was my friend, my best friend, and I will miss her terribly. But her presence is everywhere in my flat and I know I will never forget her. I’d like to share some of my memories with you today.
It’s not just that there are pigs in my flat, or that a remarkable number of the walls are duck egg blue that makes me think of Emily. It’s all the times she made me laugh or challenged me, all the times she said or did something that changed me that I will remember.
I want to start with a story of a car drive between faringdon and witney. This was a while ago, Katie and jamie were in the back and younger than they are now. I was having a serious conversation with emily in the front, and she’d asked me to hold a minions soap dispenser. Then we hit a bump and the bottle did this *shake bottle for minion laugh*
Jamie wanted to show his mum his collection of jokes, so he started telling jokes. Katie joined in, and every time we hit a bump on that very bumpy road this bottle did this *shake*
Our seriousness went out of the window. I’ve never laughed so hard. Emily was matching jamie and Katie joke for joke and the minions were just doing this *shake*
Emily loved life and she’d be seriously disappointed if we didn’t remember the laughter.
As well as laughter I remember the music. Whenever emily was well enough – and often when she wasn’t , she’d play as part of the worship team on a Sunday. I loved listening to her, and also seeing how she managed to hold and play the flute – truly worshipping when Katie was also sat on her knee! Not the easiest thing to do! She always wanted to play – and she played when many people would have asked someone else! She played as part of the worship team for her baptism, I remember we had to get dressed into dry clothes in time for her to play in the final song. She did it with plenty of time to spare, and with a halo of sunlight falling onto her as she sang.
I said my flat is full of Emily touches. This was my house warming gift. It’s the first thing that I see. Small things become great when done with love. This for me sums up Emily and the way she was with things. She touched people’s lives and did it with such love that it became truly great.
The last thing I want to share is this hanging that she created for me. Talk about small things becoming great – isn’t it amazing?
I see it where I sit, it’s in front of me. I’ll admit that right now it’s really tough looking at it, but I’m determined that every time I remember a laugh from emily – or the minions *shake* I’ll praise god. In the quiet I’ll worship god. In the difficult and painful moments when I remember she’s not here, I’ll seek and trust God – because that’s what emily would have wanted for me.
In every moment I’ll thank god that Emily was in my life, in our lives.
