When people asked Julie and I how we met, we had a little bit we would do together. I would usually start by saying, Julie and I met through a mutual friend. Our friend and her brother were having a party while their parents were out of town. I arrived early to start “partying” early, Julie was also there early, but she was there so she could say hi to her friends, but leave early in order to not break the rules. From there it would usually go something like this:
Julie: “Yeah, then he tried to pick me up with a card trick.”
Drew: “That was awesome.”
Julie: “No, it was such a dumb card trick”.
Then finally, I would say “Obviously, it worked!”. At that point we would all laugh and continue on with our conversation.
I share that story because it illustrates a few things I love about Julie.
1. Her desire to do things the right way. This desire was both to follow the rules but also to make things special. Whether it was, a class she was taking, a party for her children or a project for a client, there were rules you followed and the only option was to do it the right way. No shortcuts, just the best result possible… all the time.
2. Her desire to “show up” for people. She valued people and relationships so much, she wanted to be there for as many people as she could as often as she could do it. Whether by volunteering for kids activities, hosting a party, or delivering a birthday gift, she wanted to be there. She always wanted people to feel special and she always wanted to show up.
3. Most importantly to me, this story illustrates the balance she brought to my life and the joy we had together. We were at the party at that moment for very different reasons, but those differences are what made our love special and fun.
Julie helped create a beautiful family, home and relationships. The last 15 months have been unmeasurably difficult to walk through for our family. Even while she was suffering from the physical pain of disease and suffering from the eventuality that she had to leave her family far too early and not be able to show up for her friends, she always thought about what she needed to do to make it better for us. To do things the right way, to show up for anyone she could and to help me and our children be the best we could.
We won’t get to do that bit anymore, I’ll miss her dearly and would do it all again.
Julie passed on October 16th, 2021. Service will be held at Colonial Presbyterian Church at 95th and Wornall later this week. Details to be announced soon.
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