This is a photo I took when we had our family reunion in 2017, where we spend a few days together, and where I had an opportunity to get to know Laura.

What I quickly came to love and enjoy were Laura's generosity that knew no bounds, her natural openness that seemed to effortlessly touch everyone in the family, her vibrant spirit, her beauty of hospitality, her grace and her kindness.

Since that time, I followed Laura's endeavours from a distance through facebook. WOW what a dynamo! She struck me as an immensely happy person with an enormous passion for life, a passion that permeated every corner of her existence with an innate ability to bring joy to every occasion.

Every time I read her posts, Laura was joyfully involved headfirst in yet another undertaking, from clothing to food to enormous friendships, all interconnected in a way that encompassed the vibrant tapestry of life itself, which she lived to the fullest.

Laura, I am one of the many fortunate enough to have crossed your path, to have learned from your grace, kindness, and your unyielding zest for life.

I celebrate your life and your beautiful spirit that will continue to inspire.

Rest in peace, dear Laura. You will always be remembered with love and admiration.

I have been wrestling with a way to express this giagantic grief - this huge loss to our family of our dear sister Laura - and I still don't feel up to the task. But I will try.  

Laura had a magnificent capacity to bring harmony through her presence, words and moral spiritual force.  In a family torn from past trauma, she brought a unifying empathy, she pulled the polarising painful edges to the centre with love, joy and creative service. She made a place where we could agree, celebrate and love - a place where it was possible to put away (at least for a while) what may not be understood, resolved or healed in this lifetime. She 'presided' with a force of love.   

For me , dear sister, I will always remember you quiet and radiant,  holding your sleeping daughter in the centre of the noise and movement of our family reunion, your daughter's touselled curls falling over one arm, her long legs over the other.  You were quiet but keenly observant, smiling, active and engaged with all and everyone around you.  

You held the centre with your presence. 

Such a beautiful woman, such a dear, fierce, loving heart. 

Thank you for being part of our family, for calling me sister, for loving my children and their children.  For being, with all your heart; a sister, an Auntie, a Mother and a wife. Thank you for living with conviction, courage and joy, and for preparing your children to do the same. Thank you for making my brother's heart blossom with happiness, having shared in being loved and having loved, and having formed a nation of two, where all who ventured in felt the warmth of your hospitality.  

I grieve that your time on this earth was so brief, that your husband will not have you there to share together the sentinel moments in the coming of age of each of your children   I grieve that Mckensie will not have her mother there at those moments in a woman's life where only a mother will do.  But I do know that you will still be present in their lives, and they will feel you through that force of love with which you presided in life. 

For now, dear sister, farewell.  I will see you on the other side. I will look for you in the beauty of the milky way roaring brilliantly in the night sky.  

Please check in on me now and then, particularly when I'm in the kitchen - your superior knowlege is always welcome.  Love you forever, Laura. Go with Peace and Love and Gratitude. 

Colleen