Renata, you translated the world for so many people. I still need you to translate this grief into something I can carry.
Quote Wall
Heartfelt words of love, remembrance, and comfort.
I was terrified to walk into that studio at age 55. She took my hand and said: the body always remembers what the mind forgets. She was right.
Beatrice was on the floor demonstrating steps at 65 that most 25-year-olds can't do. She was electric. She will always be electric in my memory.
I took my first dance class from Bea when I was four years old. I danced professionally for twelve years. Every performance began with a thought of her.
My mother danced before she walked. She danced until she couldn't. And she taught me to love it the way she did — not for the steps, but for the feeling.
Bea, you made every room a dance floor. Even the hospital room. Even at the end.
Mãe, você costurou o vestido do meu casamento com as próprias mãos e chorou de emoção quando me viu com ele. Essa lembrança nunca vai embora.
Judge Wise mentored me through law school and my first five years as an attorney. He said: a good ruling is one you can explain to the person it goes against. I think about that every day.
Raymond Wise had one of the finest legal minds of his generation and chose to use it in service of the courts rather than the highest bidder. The law was lucky to have him.
Raymond was the most fair-minded person I ever met. In the courtroom, at the dinner table — he applied the same standard to everything and everyone. It was something to live alongside.
His field guide to Appalachian wildflowers is the best of its kind. My copy is falling apart. I am going to buy another one and I am going to give it to everyone I know who walks outdoors.
Dad could identify a bird by sound alone in half a second. He knew every wildflower by Latin name. He carried all of it lightly, like it was just things you knew.
Doug loved that park more than anything on earth. Except me, he used to say, though I'm not entirely sure.
Great-grandpa Walter, I am proud to carry your name. I hope I live long enough to make you proud to have given it to me.
Dad read two newspapers every morning until the very end. Said you had to know what was happening in the world so you could decide what to do about it.
O Dr. Pedro veio de barco até nossa comunidade por vinte anos. Nunca cobrou nada. Para nós, ele foi o que muita gente nunca teve: um médico de verdade.
Pedro, você escolheu servir ao outro quando podia ter tido uma vida muito mais fácil. Esse amor que você tinha pela humanidade é o que mais sinto falta.
Mamá, cada vez que veo uno de tus cuadros se me aprieta el pecho. Pintabas con tanta vida... Gracias por enseñarme a ver el mundo con otros ojos.