"lovely"

on wednesday, november 15 arthur "ben" bennett passed away. suddenly. unexpectedly.

his daughter kody was my roomate in first year of university. we had never met before the day we were thrown into a 10' x 10' cement cell and told to live together for a year. by years end, we were the only roomates on the floor still talking to one another. although we were on opposite co-op streams and rarely in the same town as each other afterwards, we've always kept in touch and always had a bond.

i have always marvelled at her family closeness, their ability to celebrate ANY occasion, and the overall optimism of anything to do with life. the minute you meet any member of her family, you are family. their family home truly felt like a second home.

in recent years, the family has been challenged with gutwrenching adversity. just when you couldn't possibly fathom anything else happening to such a good, strong, and fun loving household, ben was taking from them and us, way too soon.

ben always had the best hugs. the glass was always full. everything was always "lovely." and on saturday, the family had such a beautiful celebration of his life that my heart just hurts talking about it.

we were instructed to "wear our brightest colours for ben". kody's wonderful friends had more food brought to the house than an italian wedding for 400 people. the funnest, happiest pictures of the family were blown up and framed around the house. and we laughed. and danced. and cried.

and the whole time i could just imagine ben thinking how "lovely" it all was.