Meet Jadi 💖

So here we are,

Today marks the day as 1 year since one of my best friends passed away.

I feel like the 22nd May will forever be etched in to my mind as the day the world lost one of it's brightest stars.

Anyone that ever had the pleasure of meeting Jadi, even for just 30 seconds in a crowded room will remember her as the girl that lit up the room when she walked in.
She had an infectious smile and it was just embeded in her to make everyone and anyone she came accross feel completely at ease.

Whether it was saying something completely random to make them laugh, making fun of herself or just the warm fuzzy feeling she gave off.

I know people say it all the time, you know, this person or that person lit up a room when they walked in it, and I never really knew what that truely meant until I met Jadi.

So today I am going to put flowers at 2 of her favourite places. I might even take a little bottle of bubbly and have a toast, something we both did everytime we house sat my god parents house or on our last day in Ibiza on the beach just us two watching the sunset many years back.

I miss her so much, I don't think it will ever get easier. The longer she is away the more I miss her.

But something her husband Charlie said to us all at her memorial last year was that if we wanted to honour her, the best way we could do that would be to live like Jadi.

Jadi was the most free spirated, positive and upbeat person you could ever meet. She loved every single day that she was on this earth.

She was diagnosed with Breast cancer extremely young. I will never forget her telling me her diagnosis, her words were "it's just one of those things, what can you do about it?" as she smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

I could see it was painful for her but I knew there was no way on earth she was going to let it stop her doing what she wanted and living her life.

I was right, absolutely NOTHING stopped her!

We went out almost every single Saturday night, sometimes Friday, Saturday and Sunday if it was a bank holiday :)
We did V Fest around her treatment schedule so that she was back on the Tuesday morning ready for Chemo.

Whether it was Ladies days at the races, hungover Sundays on my sofa, Weekends away all over the country with her husband, Helping me plan my Wedding, spending time on the phone cheering her friends up when we had some mediocre bad news in comparison to what she was going through.

What ever it was she did it all with a smile and the most incredibly infectious positive attitude.

Jadi also had the most incredible confidence, it was so beautiful! I don't mean she had an ego or anything like that, in fact the complete opposite. She just loved who she was, she laughed at her faults, knew she was kind and caring and saw beauty in EVERYTHING!

I have learnt the biggest lesson of all through this and that is that life is short, unbelievably short for some of us. I appreciate the small things so much more now, hearing the birds singing, nice walks where you can see the fields for miles, little moments of laughter, my family and my friends.

I know this lockdown has been tough on almost every single one of us but if we can find the positive in each day, it will make it so much easier to get through.

Whether it's that you managed to get a job done that you otherwise wouldn't of been able to, that you were able to binge watch your favourite TV Series, that you got to see your little babies blossoming in to hilarious little characters, that you got to go for a picnic or just that you got dressed Today.

What ever it is just acknowledge the positive in each day.

I think there is another lesson in all of this for each and everyone of us, when we are gone and we leave this earth there is only one thing people will be talking about and that is the memories you left behind. The smiles, the laughter and the kindness.

No one will remember whether your hair was done the day you went round to see them, what you were wearing or whether you had your makeup on or not. The only thing they will remember is the belly laughs they had with you, the time you laughed so hard you snorted like a pig, the love they had for you, how you picked up the phone to check in on them and took the time to listen when they needed it.

So don't let any of the other stuff stress you out because at the end of the day, none of it matters one single ounce.