A guest post from Ericka Mizuta: In the fall of 1997, I entered Virginia Commonwealth University as a freshman. I had just moved across the state to Richmond from a small town in the Appalachian mountains called Wise. Coming from a small town to a large university was somewhat of a culture shock to me, and I wanted to form some lasting friendships. In the spring of 1998 I went through rush and joined the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority. That was when I met my pledge sister Meg, and where this story really begins. Meg was one of the most outgoing and fun pledge sisters. She was always there when needed and had a huge personality for such a small little lady. Her nickname was Meglet, and to this day I can still hear sisters calling her by the nickname and see her smiling and laughing. Meg was one of those sisters that was friends with everyone and someone that everyone wanted to be friends with. College was an exciting time and full of change for a lot of our sorority sisters. Many of us went on to grad school at MCV and eventually moved away from Richmond. It became hard to keep up with everyone and sometimes a year or two passed before we were able to catch up with each other. When you are in your early twenties it is easy to become caught up in your own life and forget to take time to remember old friends and relationships. When Facebook became popular it was really a time for all of our pledge class to catch up and that is where I was able to reconnect with Meg. At that time I had moved to San Diego as had some of our other sorority sisters. It was really fun getting to see pictures on a daily basis of all of their lives, the beautiful children, the living spouses, and to get to have a glimpse into daily lives to see what wonderful women we all had become. I loved looking at Meg's pictures of her kids, fun family trips, cake projects that she took on, and how involved she was with her family and church. All of the Sigmas have greatly changed since college and become better versions of our old selves and Meg was no exception. January 13th , 2014 was a normal workday for me, busy as usual (I own an orthopedic physical therapy practice). I was rushing from work to a quick pedicure appointment and trying to make a list of all the errands I needed to accomplish that afternoon and dreading lugging my kids (2 and 7 months at the time) with me. While I was waiting I decided to scroll through Facebook quickly and there I saw a post from another pledge sister Lora Humphries in reference to Meg and an accident. I quickly started checking her page and realized what had happened. It's hard to describe the feeling you have when you find out that one of your young friends has passed away and even harder when you try to comprehend the tragic nature of the accident and the tremendous loss that her family, especially her children and husband feel. Sitting in that waiting room I felt like time stood still. All I could think of was Scott (Meg had been with him as long as I can remember) and how he must have felt being there and how were their children ever going to understand and remember what a special and caring person their mother was. I had tears running down my face just thinking of how he was going to tell their children that mommy was not coming home. I felt guilty for being so worried a few moments before that my kids were going to slow down my errands and make the afternoon difficult. Tragedies often give one a different perspective and outlook on life and losing Meg definitely did that for me. Since Meg's passing I have really tried to cherish every moment with my kids, family, and friends because none of us know when that will be taken from us. I hug them a little tighter and rock them a little longer because those are the precious moments that will be over too soon. Meg also inspires me on a day basis to really commit to goals and give 110%. Even in college after pulling an all nighter and having a hectic day the day before Meg would get up and go for a run. She loved her running passion deeply and let nothing stand In her way. Meg fought injuries to qualify for Boston, and gave her all to everything she did. In her passing Meg has become larger than life and touched more lives than she could ever have imagined. She has inspired thousands to be better parents, give back to community, persevere through difficulties, and to be overall better people. This group makes me happy because all of you keep her spirit alive everyday. Meg's memory and what she stands for are alive here and always will be. It is a safe place that her family now comes to and one day her children can come to see what an amazing person Meg was and that her spirit will always be alive in all things good. Violets to you Meglet. Sigma love always, Ericka Craft Mizuta Sigma Sigma Sigma #163 Has your life been impacted by the death of Meg Menzies. Please share your story. Since January, thousands of lives have been impacted by the death of Meg Menzies. Many of us have been overwhelmed with sadness. But many of us have also found love and hope and encouragement at a time we needed it most. As we've learned more about who Meg was and accepted the call to share her legacy with the world, the stories of our lives have been forever changed. And we've seen lives around us change. If your life has been impacted by Meg's death, I invite you to share your story at the link below. It's my hope our stories will bring comfort and maybe an occasional smile to the Menzies and Cross families who greatly miss Meg, especially so over this holiday season. Submit your story here.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |