Passing down memories

We cherish these toys that once sparked imagination and play in Veronica. It's amazing to have a part of her with Ella and Jude (and me) always!

Love,
Tonda

"You've Got a Friend in Me" by Randy Newman (to Veronica, love Rene)

You've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me
When the road looks rough ahead
And you're miles and miles
From your nice warm bed
You just remember what your old pal said
Boy, you've got a friend in me
Yeah, you've got a friend in me

You've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me
If you've got troubles, I've got 'em too
There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you
We stick together and can see it through
Cause you've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me

Some other folks might be
A little bit smarter than I am
Bigger and stronger too
But none of them will ever love you
The way I do, it's me and you
Boy, and as the years go by
Our friendship will never die
You're gonna see it's our destiny
You've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me

Giving

As it is the holidays, I thought I would share what a wonderful giver I think Veronica is. She continues to inspire my thoughts and actions whenever I think of her, which is daily.

But she was also an excellent gift giver! I know we exchanged Christmas and birthday presents for several years, and I loved everything she picked out! It might not be so interesting to someone else, but to me the gifts were perfect and thoughtful. I distinctly remember my 19th birthday gifts consisting of skull and crossbones earrings, lotto tickets and a Jack Daniels jigger (sorry mom!). Then, for my 20th birthday, Veronica got me to drive to Knoxville on New year's eve because she even had me a birthday cake and the Weeds season 1 dvd!

This picture shows the cake, and Verny's passion for books in the background haha :)

This was the first time I saw her apartment there, and we had an awesome weekend together. Last year, I was in New York for my birthday. Sadly, Veronica didn't join me, although I know she would have LOVED that, but I know she loved that I experienced her favorite city at its best.

Veronica was always giving. I also know she inherited this trait from her sweet mother. I hope all of you have a great holiday!

Love, Brittany

Living Firework

With finals finally out of the way, it is time for a much-needed post. I hope that others also find the time to post a memory or a thought.

I had spoken before about Veronica's generosity, but I thought I'd elaborate further on the amount of care and concern she had for others, no matter how close or distant she was from them.

Several times Vern showed me up as a sister. My twin brother lives in the Nashville/Murfresboro area, and any time there was a tornado or extreme storm, guess who'd call? No, not my brother, even though he'd be riding his bike out in the stuff, but Verny would call and give me all the details and tell me to make sure he was alright. It was so funny that she seemed to pay more heed to his welfare than me!

Steve, said brother, also had a car break down on him pretty close to Knoxville one late night. Veronica opened up her apartment to him, so that he could get some rest, and the next day she drove him all the way back to Nashville, no strings attached. When she dropped him off, Steve called me, excited about the ride he'd had with Veronica. We'd all spent some time together before, having gone to the beach a few times, hanging out in the treehouse behind my father's home, and other miscellaneous sleepovers when I was a young teenager, but Steve had of course never had exclusive time with Veronica until this car ride. To him, it was like a sort of enlightenment. He was simply blown away with her company--her smarts, her passion, her sheer vitality towards whatever topic they brought up during the ride--and he said it was different than all the times before. It felt like instead of her just being my best friend, to him it felt that she was now his friend, too, and he had an absolute blast on that car ride.

I didn't hear too much from Verny about it, but of course her amazingness is nothing new to herself. I was glad that Steve had experienced that very special side of Veronica, where it is just the two of you talking about whatever, and at the same time feeling this feeling of such relaxed significance. Think about your own. For me, it didn't matter what we were doing--if Verny and I were together, we were having fun.

This past 4th of July, people at my work had said that there would be fireworks at the racetrack. If you are one in every two people in Bristol who went to the track and waited for them, you'd know that, well, that was a total lie, and there were no fireworks. But Verny came in for the 4th, and we went over there, and once we realized that, well, a lot of time had passed and there still weren't any fireworks? Of course, we had a dance party on top of the hill and played music with her phone. And you know what? That 4th of July will forever stand out to me, because instead of watching fireworks it was like we were fireworks...and I suppose there is more symbolism to that now than there was then.