I have been blessed.
During my thirty short years on this earth, I have had the privilege of knowing some pretty neat people. Debee McGovern is/was one of those. She went home to Jesus last night.
Today I have been thinking about her impact on my life, and reflecting on some of the things that will always remind me of her.
- Royal Blue. It's both the Cambridge-Isanti and Mora school color. Debee served on our school board for 18 years and you could count on her to wear a royal blue dress to every graduation ceremony. She wore one to mine and made sure she was the one to hand me my diploma and give me the first congratulatory hug. She also gave me one of her royal blue dresses when I was in college because it reminded her of me. It would be fitting if there wasn't a stitch of black at her funeral, and people only showed up in royal blue.
- White chocolate satin mochas. Not just a white mocha - a white satin mocha. I'm sure that's just what the local coffee shop called it, but she made it sound classier. When we worked at Bob's together, I could count on at least a couple deli runs for white satin mochas during the summer.
- Fresh flowers - specifically lilies. Robbie and I went to my senior prom together, and Debee did the flowers. She used stargazer lilies as the focus. I was the only girl at prom that had a legitimate (read: huge!) arm bouquet to carry, a spare wrist corsage, and another wrist corsage that she went a little overboard on and told me to give it to my grandma as a table centerpiece (true story!)
And then there are just those random things that I appreciate about her:
She loved capturing photos of people doing all sorts of things, and then went the extra step of creating keepsake journals, mini scrapbooks, or even matted and shrink wrapped those photos as gifts. There is/was always at least one surface in her house covered in some photo or scrapbook project. She loved arranging photo shoots, too: we did one with all the girls who had ever worked at Northland, she arranged one for Clint and his buddies when they were in high school, and the last McGovern family photo is displayed near her kitchen where everyone can see it. The fridge is plastered with photos of people she loves, and the piano is loaded with framed photos of special memories. She knew those moments were meant to be saved.
She was SO good at making people feel cherished and important. For my sixteenth birthday, she gave me a silver charm bracelet, and then faithfully purchased additional charms for different milestones in my life (a watering can for working at Northland, a princess crown for homecoming, personalized engraved markers for random accomplishments, a bride charm when Jeremy and I got engaged, etc.) Debee made me feel special.
And she didn't take herself too seriously. She laughed a lot. And she said funny, honest things ALL the time. When I first got married, she told me about her first two years with Chuck and described it in a way that only Debee could. She told me once that she wanted me to kiss Drew 'just in case' before I got married - in case sparks flew like they do in the movies. She would go shopping and try to hide the bags from Chuck. She used the words 'sweetie' and 'cutie' when referring to people. She learned Swedish and used to write me notes in it for practice. She was just fun like that.
I went to a random graduation party with her years ago - someone who hadn't seen her in a while asked her if I was her daughter. She said yes without batting an eye. And I LOVED it. Debee was (and is) like a surrogate mom to me. She will be missed by so many, and I'm sure there are lots and lots of people she adopted this same way - and we were the lucky ones.
Two weeks ago, I went home to say goodbye. I sat in the living room talking with her and other friends who had dropped by to do the same, though none of us ever said it out loud. Even at the very end, she didn't complain that her hips hurt, that she didn't have enough strength to walk the five feet to her bed by herself, or that there was only a few strands of her blonde hair left on her head. She didn't complain that the sun was in her eyes, that her foot was swollen or about any of the things that a normal person would be quick to take issue with. She was a living example of Colossians 4:5 "Let your gentleness be known to all. The Lord is near."
I got to pray with her that day; that Chuck, Drew, Robbie and Clint would know what a gift they were given in her, and that she would be able to tell them how proud she was of them and how much she loved them. That will go down as one of the most significant prayers of my life.
I love Debee, and I am SO glad that Jesus shared her with me.
