For Cara

My cousin Cara is gone.  She was 16.

Last Saturday night, in the wake of a thunderstorm and under a rainbow, she left.  Those who love her know that the grief of losing someone so precious is tempered by the knowledge that she has finally found peace.

A friend once told me that the Japanese love sakura above all flowers because they symbolize the transience of existence.  Like rainbows and shooting stars, their beauty is all the more breathtaking because it is gone before we are ready to let go.  

These are for you, Cara.

With love, forever and ever,

 Maggie