She

She is not my death to remember so I am terrified to even write these words.

She was my second sister-in-law: married to my oldest brother after my first sister-in-law was well-into-marrying my younger brother.

She taught me how to order a legit margarita and how to walk home by myself. She taught me how to wear eyeliner and how to eloquently wear shorts with long legs (even though hers were half as long). She taught me how to leave Iowa for a summer in DC and how to show-up-weird. She taught me how to eat dinner in the morning, kayak in the evening, and stay up late-night with my thoughts.

She was the smartest, darndest, holy-helledness thing that a 22-year old girl with two older brothers could ever have hoped for, and she was teaching me how to demand what I deserve.

When she naturally left this earth, she left un-jealous. She left happy for all I was left to learn.