A Beautiful Celebration of Life
On Sunday, I attended the Celebration of Life for Madison Harrison, daughter of Vern and Teri Harrison and sister to her brother Austin.
I have known the Harrison family for years. Our babies practically grew up together. I can still remember going to Indoor Playground with Teri when our kids were little, chasing toddlers around while trying to have conversations between juice boxes, toys and snack breaks. Time has a way of slipping by quietly, and suddenly those babies are adults.
My boys are right around the same age as Madi.
I also had the pleasure of coaching Madi and Austin in swimming club. Madi was an incredible athlete, especially in breaststroke. She was the kind of kid every coach hoped for. She worked hard, listened, smiled easily and never brought drama to the pool deck. She was gentle but determined. Even back then there was something almost ethereal about her. She was always chasing butterflies, always moving through life with a softness and lightness that made people gravitate toward her.
Madi was stunningly beautiful on the outside, but she was equally beautiful on the inside.
Keiran came with me to the Celebration of Life at MDM Hall, and when we walked into that building, I was honestly overwhelmed. The hall was packed to the rafters. Every chair was full. People lined the walls. There were seniors, young families, teenagers, coworkers, classmates, friends and babies in arms. Every demographic in this community was represented in that room.
The amount of respect and love shown to the Harrison family was something I will never forget.
You could physically feel the heartbreak in that building, but you could also feel the love. The impact that Madi and her family have had on this community was undeniable. Sometimes you do not fully realize how deeply a family is woven into the fabric of a town until moments like that. On Sunday, it was obvious.
It was the most beautiful Celebration of Life I have ever attended.
Madi loved to dance. It was not just something she did. It was who she was. She was an artist at heart and expressed herself through dance, art and poetry. Throughout the ceremony we saw pieces of who she was. We saw her artwork. We heard her poetry. We saw her dance shoes sitting quietly as symbols of the passion she carried throughout her life.
We heard stories about her adventurous spirit and the life she managed to live in only 25 years. There was a moving dance performance by TPDS, the organization where she spent years developing her talent and passion for dance. The performance was emotional, powerful and impossibly beautiful. There was also a magnificent slideshow filled with photos of a young woman who truly embraced life.
What struck me most was how fully Madi lived.
That young woman experienced more in 25 years than many people experience in twice that time. She loved deeply, created fearlessly and left an imprint on people everywhere she went.
As a mother, Sunday was difficult in a way I cannot fully explain. Teri and Vern are living my worst nightmare. Not much in life truly scares me anymore, but the thought of something happening to any of my boys brings me to my knees. To watch parents endure that kind of unimaginable loss is heartbreaking beyond words.
And yet, somehow, Teri and Vern have handled this tragedy with more grace, strength and compassion than anyone I have ever witnessed. Even in their grief, they were thinking about others. They are truly incredible people who raised incredible children and are now learning how to navigate a completely changed life.
What I saw in that room on Sunday was community at its purest form.
I saw people grieving together, supporting one another and showing up for a family they love. My mom used to say we live in the Garden of Eden, and on Sunday, May 24, sitting in that crowded hall surrounded by love, heartbreak, compassion and community, I truly felt it.