“Oh Jacob. That is so special. I adore you. You are one of God’s gifts too. Thank you for being a friend to me. It means more than you know.” Tara Burtchaell, May 2, 2019
I didn’t know it at the time, but I would also speak to Tara (a friend from my days at Florida State University) via social media once more. Six months and five days later, she would be dead. Death sometimes can play cruel games with the living and I didn’t discover my beautiful friend’s fate until this past Saturday, January 4, 2020. That is the day a celebration of life service was held in her memory at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta. Of course, life can sometimes appear to be cruel, and, amid all those in-between months, I was busy as my brother had one massive heart attack in July, and another four days after Tara was ushered into Eternity. During this turmoil, a childhood friend and the valedictorian of my senior class, passed away. I guess it can be overlooked that I hadn’t checked in on Tara more.
The conversation I had with Tara that evening had been shortly after the death of her mother. Tara absolutely doted on her mother and had sat by her side during her illness. She was distraught over her death and told me she was struggling with the loss. I shared with her that I had lost both of my parents, and that I care for my brother and sister, Abbie Gail, who has developmental disabilities. I explained how Abbie has been like a daughter to me, although she is only six years younger. That is why she responded the way she did during the conversation.
For all intents and purposes, Tara and I should have never been friends. She came from class. I was a dirt-poor farm boy. She was beautiful. I was just me. Tara and I would go to plays together, and occasionally, to dinner or lunch together, but it was always as just friends, although I had the biggest crush in the world on her.
Miles, years, and circumstances separated us. She left and went to New York City before she returned to her home in the Atlanta area. I settled in the north Florida area to a life that was nowhere near as exciting as hers.
Tara went on to work on and produce such TV shows as Good Eats with Alton Brown, Dancin’ the Dream and Dance Crash with Brandee Evans. My favorite work she produced and wrote was a cartoon based on the Elf on the Shelf books titled Elf on the Shelf: An Elf’s Story.
I wish life had afforded me the opportunity to talk more with Tara. I wish I had known her more than I did. She was such a beautiful person. More Important that that, she was a kind person.
Jacob's Ladder 