Memories of Ilana - By Shyla Hatfield

I was sitting on the steps of my fourth grade classroom when I met Ilana. I never remembered seeing her before, but here she was standing in front of me asking for my phone number. She wanted to get together sometime to play. As she left, I thought how strange to just walk up to someone, ask for the number, and walk away. Just like that. But that was it, because from that day on we were BFF's. You know, best friends forever.

One of the things I'll always remember about Ilana is that gorgeous smile. If you've ever seen her smile, you know then that she could literally light up a room with it. And that laugh. Oh!--she had the best laugh where her nose would crinkle up as she laughed. Ilana was one of those lucky few that was just as beautiful on the inside as she was out. In elementary school, she made friends with a kid one time when it was considered "cooler" to make fun of him instead. But not Ilana. I'll never know anyone else as wonderfully gentle and kind hearted as she was.

I bet you guys didn't know that Ilana could fix a car in a pinch. On a road trip to San Diego one weekend my car started to fall apart and a piece of the undercarriage was scraping along the pavement. So, we pull alongside the freeway, 20 miles away from the nearest town, not really knowing what to do next. Ilana starts looking in the glovebox for anything to use to tie the piece back together so that we could continue the drive to the next town where we could get it fixed. Well, she found something all right---a tampon!!! She tied the car back together with the string, and we drove the remaining 20 miles with a tampon hanging from under the car! So, we finally make it to the mechanic in the next town and I think he might have been a little uncomfortable with Ilana's DIY job. For one thing, he was really quiet and wouldn't make much eye contact with us, and secondly, he got us in and out real quick and we got my car fixed.....for FREE!!

You know, I'm going to miss Ilana terribly, but if I had only had that one brief moment in time with her that one day in 4th grade and she had never called me, I still would have been so blessed to have known her for even that much. But, how lucky and fortunate am I that she did call me and I got so much more than that? Ilana will always be a part of who I am and I cherish every moment I had with her, it was truly a gift.