thoughts by the ocean

I headed out for the beach today - to take some time to feel sad and think about what I wanted to carry on from Julie's life. I had a lot of thoughts and wanted to share this poem I wrote in her honor.

Jewelee, Jewels, Julie

Julia Butterfly, Julie of the Wolves

The Beatles Julia, ocean child

Getting an email from Julie Allen was like

receiving a letter from Jack Kerouac.

She wrote in wave metaphors,

astral words driven by the tides.

She was a blonde southern california beach lover...

But she was not.

She was from a distant star,

a ray of light still bursting with exuberance

after billions of years, making it's final stop

on our lovely, lonely planet.

Julie was able to feel the loneliness of a hundred people,

when happiness fled like a retreating tide.

Julie made me feel like my problems

were not too daunting at all.

Yet she was also able to convert sunlight into

pure, unbridled joy.

I think she could feel the happiness of

more than a hundred people.

And what's more, she gave it right back to us.

Julie, Jewels, Jewelee

The light of your star is in good hands.