I thought about writing about all the things I recently learned from a Mary Kay beauty consultant. For example, if you don't wash your face for one night, your face ages somewhere between 7 and 50 days. (This is partially due to the way pores expand throughout the day and how quickly skin cells die). Always apply your moisturizer in upward motions on your face. Never pull your face down, it adds wrinkles. There is one exception and that is when you are applying foundation. I think. Also, make-up does expire, although it seems that most people actually already know this.
But, what I really want to write about is what I cannot stop thinking about. Liam's service. Liam.
On Valentine's Day, Prince Liam was remembered at a memorial service that carried a majestic air. Liam's friends, FDNY firefighters of Engine 1, Ladder 24 (and others from across NYC) stood guard outside of St. Francis of Assisi Church in midtown Manhattan. After the choir sang, "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep," the firefighters proceeded into reserved pews. Later, one firefighter of Engine 1, Ladder 24, where Liam has an honorary locker, spoke about Liam and the "firefighter ice-cream" that Liam used to eat at the firehouse. Along with another fireman, this speaker presented Liam's parents with an FDNY helmet. The choir included members of the cast of Lion King (Tshidi Manye, famous voice of Rafiki, among them). I've seen the Lion King (twice) but I didn't get goosebumps until Manye's renditions of "Circle of Life" and "He Lives in You" on Monday.
Everyone wore orange, Liam's favorite color. There were orange scarves, orange ties (Liam thought everyday was a good day to wear a tie), orange jackets, orange nail polish, orange dresses, orange headscarves. The flowers were orange. Bob Woodruff (ABC News Anchor and family friend); Liam's surgeon, Dr. Michael LaQuaglia (chief of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's pediatric surgical service); and a nurse practitioner from Liam's medical team spoke. Dr. LaQuaglia said that Liam was the only child that yelled his name across the playroom and the only one who could pronounce it right. Linda, the nurse practitioner, remembered how Liam and his sister used to claim to be "scooter-walking" when she reprimanded them for riding their scooters through the hallways of Sloan. Gretchen, Liam's mother, who spoke last, said that as far as she knew, there was never a rule about scooters until Liam came to Sloan. As Gretchen talked about Liam - how he was curious about everything (machines, medicine, gems, people) and how he made friends wherever he went (hospitals, offices, museums, school, playgrounds) - members of the choir wept silently. Most of them had probably never met Liam or Gretchen before.
Just a few avenues away, a reception followed the service. On the twelfth floor of Studio 450, cookies, Liam's favorite food, lined the counters and filled the table tops. Take-out containers, like the ones found in Chinese restaurants, were piled near the cookies. More people talked about Liam's scooter, his curiosity and inquisitiveness, his ability to draw people in and make them feel comfortable and loved. Another mother talked about the way Liam could make his classmates feel at home during play dates he hosted at Sloan, even if it was the first time his friends were visiting the hospital. And about his Superman costume, and the time he sang the ABC's at a Halloween party after he was discharged from the hospital that day. The mother of Liam's best friend, (a girl from school), stood in front of all the guests and talked about the adventures Liam and her daughter went on, and how Liam liked to buy her daughter jewelry.
"Liam had good instincts," the young girl's mother said, smiling.
Liam didn't understand the concept of later. If not now, when? he always asked one of his teachers, who could not completely hold back her tears as she stood in front of the podium and talked about Liam. Before speaking, the teacher had promised Gretchen, Liam's mom, that she would try not to cry.
Instead of sharing the Mary Kay beauty tips I learned, I'll leave you with a few things I learned from the service, reception, and Liam:
- If you care about someone, tell them.
- Be curious. Ask questions. Learn.
- Make friends in unlikely places.
- Complain less.
- Dress up when you want to.
- Make others feel special.
- Approach the world with an open mind. It will open itself to you.
- Do because you can.
- Now is a good time.
- Don't let the rules keep you from scootering. And scooter-walk when you have to.
- As Gretchen says, love like Liam.
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