tickled pink.

today is a sad day. about a week ago, a vibrant young girl named emma bailey was killed in a car accident outside of london, england. today is her birthday. it was also her funeral.

while she wasn't a close friend of mine, we went to university together and she was a constant part of my queen's years. i can still hear her laugh loud and clear... it was by far the most contagious laugh i have ever heard. i smile now to think of it. i remember knocking on her door on a walkhome buddy night scavenger hunt, and her letting a total stranger take a tequila shot off her neck. only at queen's. only emma. i peed my pants watching her in players; i followed her adventures in the uk on her blog; and i had no doubt that she would be one of the few aspiring actresses to make it big.

my heart aches deeply for her close friends and family. for kelly who was travelling with her. for everyone who wore pink today to celebrate her favourite colour and a colourful life.

i have been wanting to write something about this for so long. but every time i began, it seemed that i didn't know what to say. i don't understand the world: how can it be that a young, beautiful, independent, adventurous, hilarious girl had to have her life cut short? who decides? why wasn't it me? i just can't find peace thinking of the injustice. one split second and thousands of people's lives are changed forever. young people are just not supposed to die. they are supposed to fall in love and go travelling and change careers and go shopping and go to school. i don't know how to comprehend that something that has been such a constant is no longer.

someone wrote something about emma recently, and i imagine that it is just what she is doing up in heaven: making the angels laugh.