Dear Shasty,

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? I'm guessing you're throwing down a fantastic spread for a BIG party of heavenly hosts. And there's laughter and music. And everyone around is totally charmed by you. And everyone feels totally charming because of you.

You have an amazing gift in that sense...no matter what the situation, you make people feel like they are cool and they can do no wrong. It goes way beyond graciousness. I think you've inspired a brand new word in the dictionary--"Shastyness", or the involuntary quality of being naturally amiable and genuine--the Ambassador of warm fuzzy righteous chi!

You've inspired us to drop our pettiness and try to be better people.

Each of us who knew you for any length of time will confront a situation and say to ourselves, "What would Shasty do?"

Not just the life of the party, but the light of our lives. Your presence always brought an added spark of electricity to the atmosphere.  Your creative ingenuity raised us up and brought us out into the world to experience so many worthwhile things. Your inexhaustible spirit of allowing yourself to let go and have fun is so contagious to the rest of us.

I want to pay you back in so many ways. I want to honor your memory and keep those spirited ways of yours in the forefront of our thoughts.

Shasty, we're probably all still a little alienated in our grief, but you make us aware of how good we've got it. You help us remember how much we can give each other and gain from each other. And my god--how there's so much we can learn from each other.

Okay, I'm probably embarrassing you so I'll stop. What's that? Oh--I'm probably embarrassing ME...glad we got that cleared up!

Miss you, buddy. You're a rare gem and I'll never forget you.

Love,

Holly...