Shelly, I’ve tried to think of how I can summarize how I feel about you other than what I wrote for your obituary, but the truth is there’s too many stories to try to summarize in one post. 

So here’s my first memory of many: we took these pics on the way to our cousin Brent’s funeral. Peter drove and we sat in the back with the top down getting wind blown like crazy but loving it. Driving on the freeway out of town not even two cars away we see moms car - she was totally oblivious to our waving honking and yelling her name which we thought was hilarious. The funeral was very sad but there was a special salt ceremony where everyone put their messages and prayers for Brent into salt and then one by one poured it into a large glass container filled with water, it was a beautiful symbolic gesture. When they lowered his ashes into the earth we both lost it, heave sobbing at such a sad loss. 

The dinner with family by the beach afterwards was a beautiful opportunity to reconnect with everyone we hadn’t seen in forever. Knowing that Peter was our DD we both enjoyed our champagne and afterwards as a group walked down to the ocean to release the salt water from the funeral service.

We gathered in a circle and did a special blessing then released the water into the ocean. Aunt Kathy whispered that she wished she could go further into the water so I grabbed her hand, ignoring the fact that it was the middle of a freezing winter and ran into the waves and then I dove all the way in. As soon as you saw what we were doing you sprinted to catch up and dove in too. It was such a liberating feeling for me in the ocean, as we walked back to the shore laughing at ourselves, everyone looked at the 3 of us in disbelief.

We laughed our asses off and Peter scrambled to find something to wrap us in as our teeth chattered in between laughs. The drive home Peter was clearly concerned about us getting hypothermia and turned the heater up so high it turned the car into what felt like a sauna. When we got back to my house you we stayed up late talking, and reminiscing together.

I love that memory because for the first time i did something wild before you thought to, but as soon as you saw me you were all in. You were always “all in” and I am incredibly grateful for the years we had and millions of memories in those years that I can cling to, and I AM clinging right now. I love you Michelle, thank you for being my built in best friend, my baby sister and for your unconditional love.  I am going to miss you and love you for the rest of my life. 

My little was so full of life! She was such an amazing person and I'm so lucky that I got to be her "older broski" as she use to say..... Michelle I miss and love you so much, and I hope you knew how much we all loved you!! 

One of my favorite stories that I love to tell everybody is.....Michelle used to love to Kamikaze you. We would go out for drinks on her beach cruisers down by Huntington Beach and after a few cocktails we would head back home and on the way back she would purposely run into you causing you to crash into the bushes and she would be laughing hysterically and say something funny like "got you sucka!" as she rode away and at the moment you're like "hey what the heck?", but as you think about it you start laughing cause that was Michelle, and we all loved her so damn much!!! We really miss and love you Michelle! Sally and i woke up in tears today thinking about you, but I know you're dancing up in heaven and probably running an angel or two of the road with your heavenly beach cruiser!!! I/We will always love you Michelle, and I'll Never Say Goodbye! I'll only say "Until we meet again!" Cuz one day when I pass you better be there to greet me with a Heavenly bottle of booze and two Heavenly beach cruisers......but this time I'm running you off the road sucka!!!