I met Stacy at a basketball game, of all places. I don't remember who we played, or what the score was, but we were winning, and nobody was paying much attention to the game anyway.
I was sitting with a bunch of the athletic trainers, and we were making small talk, then I saw Stacy come into the gym putting all her weight on her right leg (because of ACL surgery on her left knee) and wincing slightly as she gingerly made her way up one leg at a time to where we were sitting.
"You need to use that leg more", our head trainer said. Stacy grinned and said sheepishly, "I know...", as she sat down in the bleacher above me. We continued to make small talk and then somebody said something about Stace being from Canada, then I said," I've been to Canada". Stace perked up, "Really??", then I told her about going to Ontario in 1996.As I walked up the hill in the cold later that night, I thought, "Wow, Canada, how cool..."
From then on, I seemed to see Stacy everywhere I went on campus. After a couple of weeks, I still didn't know her name, so I finally asked. "Staaaacy" she said. I chuckled at the way she drew her name out like a little kid.
As I
got to know
her, I always made it a point to say hi to her, or sit by her at the
games, and
she always seemed genuinely happy to see me, greeting me with a big
grin and an
even bigger hug. (Those Canadians sure do know how to gives those
hugs...I
really miss those...I would always take a deep breath and just savor
the aroma of that perfume she wears, Stace smelled sooo good; it's the
“little things” like that that really make life wonderful...). One thing I
really like about Stacy is the way she talks; if she ever did anything wrong it
was, "Sorey abowt that...", and once we were all sitting in the bleachers at a
game and she said, "Wow, that was a great play, EH?!!" We all laughed at her,
and she NEVER said it again...
Gosh, I love her so much...it was the things like that that made her so
awesome!!
I would see her go to softball practice, bad knee and all, and work as hard as she could, and I really admired her perseverance as well as how hard she worked in the classroom (maintaining a 3.7 GPA); she really seemed to have her life in order, and that was inspiring.
The thing I like most about Stacy though is how genuine she is. She always was warm and friendly to everyone she met. One thing I remember the most was the Monday when we got back from Spring Break; I had just flunked a test, and nothing seemed like it was going right, and then as I was going to class, I saw Stace in the hallway and she greeted me with the warmest hug and smile I've ever had. We chatted a bit, and then she told me she was transferring at the end of the semester, and I panicked. "No wait, don't go!!!" . It was in between that awesome hug and now THIS bombshell that I suddenly realized what kind of a friend I had, and I was going to try and do everything I could to keep her here. I told her that I guess I'd have to write her a letter to convince her to stay.
I didn't see Stace for about a week after that, but when I did, I gave her the first of many long letters ("small novels" I call them) and after that, I got yet another hug, but she was still leaving, so for the next month and a half I decided to do everything I could to make Stacy's last days at HSU special.
I would
just
show up at her apartment and we'd just sit and talk with other people
there (sooo
many people just "showed up" at her place, I guess I wasn't the only
one who saw how great Stacy is), or watch hockey games or Mets games (I
like
that other New York team) or have lunch or whatever,
but no matter
what we did, I never wanted Stacy to feel like she was alone because I
knew she
was a long, long way away from home, and sometimes I'd see this
very far
away look in her eyes, and my heart went out to her. There were so many times
she was there for me: I remember knocking on her door at about eleven one night
looking for some aloe vera because I had really bad sunburn (it was everything I
could do to keep from screaming like a little girl as she rubbed the stuff on my
arms, but she was gentle, and really seemed genuinely concerned; Stace is
gonna make an AWESOME physical therapist, I just know it!!) I
remember too when she was really, really sick and I came knocking on
her door again one night about ten looking for a bag of ice, and I felt really
bad that I
woke her up, but she still greeted
me with a very warm hug that caught me off guard, and standing there in
the moonlight with
that same big grin (runny nose and all..) she looked like an angel, and
I
thought, "Wow, I'm SOOO blessed..". I gave her some chicken noodle soup
the
next day, and thankfully she got over it, and I did little stuff like
that for
her all the time; it's not the "stuff" though, but rather, the thought
behind it that
counts the most; we should always, always look for opportunities to
bless people, because God will return the favor, it's called "sowing
and reaping". The whole reason I do what I do is because it
makes me feel good inside, I love to see people happy, and most of all, I
wanted to ingratiate myself to Stace, ("Ingratiate: to bring oneself
into the good graces of another, by deliberate effort"...not bad for
FIVE years of college, EH??!!)...
For the first time in my life I felt like I was genuinely loved and accepted,and I realized I wasn't an accident or a mistake, and it only took 22 and a half years, but it was worth the wait. I had always felt out of place or on the outside looking in, but after I met Stace, I saw how real friends should be; I felt like I truly belonged. She seemed to always be there when I needed her, she would inspire me and believe in me, and encourage me to follow my dreams with the way she acted and lived her life. Being born with mild cerebral palsy, I'd always seen myself with limitations and was always being told directly or indirectly "You can't", but Stacy was the first to really say "You CAN!!" and that has inspired me to do so many things, among them to play the piano. I'd always wanted to learn, but I had a physical therapist literally tell me once "You'll never play the piano", and for so long I believed that, but I realized otherwise when Stacy came into my life, so one day I decided to honor her and follow my dreams...
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