“I didn’t want to be here.” Mary Weiland was the first to speak. Though tears streamed down her face she never faltered, displaying a strength and dignity matching the stand of oaks gracing the park in which we were gathered.
Mary shared with us how she has simply wanted to be a mom, to have her children safe and healthy and able to live out their natural lives as all parents hope.
She counted off the days since Sue’s murder and shared how the shock and reality of this loss was still working its way into her consciousness.
Even though she did not choose this path willingly, she was willing to stand and walk with us and for us, determined that Sue was not to have died in vain.
Ron Weiland was the next to speak. He shared how, on any other autumn day, he and Sue would have been out on their motorcycles, a long standing tradition of theirs. As did so many that weekend, he spoke of Sue’s loving and compassionate nature. “She never ended a conversation without saying ‘I love you’.”
That was her gift to him. The last words of the last conversation they ever had were I love you. “Just three little words. I love you. Those three little words mean everything.” He closed by expressing his hope that we all would never forget just how important it is to share those words with those in our own lives.
As the walk began, Patrick was swept away in a sea of people anxious to offer their condolences and share stories of his sister, leaving me to make my way among the unfamiliar faces.
Before we set out, however, Patrick had whisked me from one cluster of people to another. “This is Laura. She’s the one who wrote that article I shared with you. She came all the way from Chicago to walk with us, can you believe it?”
As soon as he mentioned the piece I had written, recognition would light their faces followed by bear hugs and kisses as everyone’s eyes welled with tears. It was overwhelming for me being on the receiving end of many heartfelt expressions of gratitude.
The juxtaposition of their pain with the enthusiasm with which they treated me with something that felt very like celebrity was something I was entirely unprepared for, but it was okay. I know what it is like to have been touched deeply by words written by someone else. I know what it is to feel gratitude for the person who wrote those words that helped light my path regardless of any degree of success they may have achieved as a writer.
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