Alina Carere
October 11th, 2009
My friend, Alina Carere, died last night.
She lived in a town not far from mine, and she used to attend highschool very near to me, so we saw each other now and again in her town or in mine, but I knew her mostly from camp, where we have been leaders together over the past few years.
It was at camp that I saw her last, only a few weeks ago. We were cleaning up the kitchen together after most people had gone home, and we were eating homemade asiago and artichoke dip as we worked. She was shocked when I double dipped my pita, and she threatened to stop eating it altogether, but it was too good, so she ate it anyway.
This memory is not very remarkable, I know, except it is the last that I will have of her, the last of the many memories, most of them just as unremarkable, that nevertheless made a remarkable life, a life of gentleness and generosity and willingness to serve. There will be no more such memories, and there are no words adequate to this loss.
There never are.
6 Responses to “Alina Carere”
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From Word to Word by Jeremy Luke Hill is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License.
October 12th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Luke… I also have no adequate words to express my sympathy for your loss. Please know that you and Jaya will be in my heart. Margot
October 12th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
I worked with Alina at Post Time. She was the most generous, loving, beautiful person I have ever known. I will never forget all of the thoughtful things she did for me, and all of the memories of our times together that I will never forget.
October 13th, 2009 at 3:37 am
Hi there,
I don’t know you, and you don’t know me but we have one thing in common which is that we were both friends of Alina. Thanks for posting this memory of her. I’ve been having a hard time because I keep thinking of her face, and her smile when I would see her at work many times or running into her in the mall, etc. I think of how she talked and how she had a distinct way of speaking and all this time, I’m so scared that I will forget these things about her.
I hope Alina knows how much we all miss her. I feel that a lot of people are hurting and I hope through sharing memories of her, we can all hang onto the smiles.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Jess,
My experience has been that you never really forget someone. You just remember them differently over time. Though the vivid sorts of memories eventually fade, they become something different, something deeper and fuller and longer lasting.
You need not be afraid. You will remember her.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
alina was my cousin. i came back from her funeral minuutes ago.so sad….
October 15th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I was a little sadden I couldn’t attend neither the visitation nor the funeral, so I can see at least one more time. I may not have spent much time with her and share much memories, but the ones I do have were amazing and I’ll thoroughly miss her. No more new memories but that’s only until we meet her again.
I’m sorry for your loss Luke. Though you say there are no adequate words, in this context of the physical world it may be true, but thankfully God made a way for this not to be the end with our relationship with Alina. We will see her again. Though our grief is temporary, our eternal joy is that she’s at peace now and that we can join her in the future.