The Best Compliment I’ll Ever Carry 🕊️✨

They say the words we leave behind are the only things that truly last.

The best compliment I ever received touched every part of who I am. It came through a phone line, in the voice of a friend I’ve now lost to the stars. He told me, “You are a truly strong woman. You achieved everything you wanted to, and you’re still adding to the list. I’m proud of you. Whenever I see your life, I feel like you are something perfect. I’m so happy to have a friend like you. You give me strength.”

I’m crying as I write this, because he was my strength, too. What he was accomplishing in his own life was beyond anything I could imagine, yet he looked at me and saw power.

My dear friend, I hope you are in peace now. Even though I feel this sorrow in my bones, in the very center of my heart, I am making a promise: I will get my strength back. I will continue living for both of us. I remember writing in your diary once, randomly, that we would be friends until one of us died. I know now I was wrong—we are friends forever, into eternity.

I miss you. And I hope you can forgive me for the moments I went into my shell. As a hermit by nature, there were times my life was raining so hard that I couldn’t bear to be your umbrella, or even share my rain with you. But I always loved you. I will always love you. I only wish we had more time in this world.

“He is not lost who finds the light of God; and he is not gone who lives in the hearts of those he left behind.”

I’m wearing my Midnight Blue hair and my Purple heart today, trying to be the “strong woman” you saw in me. I’m learning that being alone with my thoughts doesn’t mean being lonely, it means having a quiet space to talk to you. I’m carrying your pride in me like a shield, and I know that one day, the rain will stop, and the better days God promised will be bright enough for both of us to see.

I’m living for the list we’re still adding to. See you in eternity. 💜🌙📖