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THE BRANDIE EQUATION
Brandie Chism Yokie is a part of us all.
Our lives, who we all are at this moment, have been profoundly shaped by our relationships with Brandie.
Think about it. She had a gift for connecting people... Rachael wouldn't have grown to adore a Tennessee fan. Amy and Joey wouldn't be together. Matthew wouldn't have Addison or have experienced the kind of love we all spend our lives searching for. Karen wouldn't be as awesome of a mother or the kind person she is today. I wouldn't be as happy or as whole with my Hubs Rod or be as close to my family Corbin, Elijah, Tricia and Diane. I wouldn't know Tina or Kim or Jimmy or any of the other amazing friends without her.
And she also had a gift for making us stronger. I'm certain each of us can point to at least one moment where we wouldn't have been as brave, would have given up or given in, had she not intervened and encouraged.
I could go on and on for days, naming all of the things and the people that wouldn't be connected or even affected without her presence, including myself... For I simply would not be alive today without her friendship, I wouldn't know the freedom I enjoy today without her loyalty and trust, and I damn sure would not love the way I do had she not shown me how through her example in loving me. In fact, many of us wouldn't even know each other had it not been for Brandie. In many ways, she was the key between us through which SO MUCH LOVE passed, and by which so many other doors to awesome things and people were opened.
Life is nothing more than a series of moments, woven together by the significance of the ones we are lucky enough to recognize while we are in them. Brandie was like that one thread that weaves through the fabric of each life, connecting the moments of threads in all our lives together. She made it whole, and made us one. As you know, the sum of the whole is greater than the parts, and she was the variable that made it possible.
I said this in another post recently, but I'll say it again as I feel it more poignantly today, on her birthday... I am a person to whom words MATTER. A GREAT deal. One of my gifts Brandie helped me to embrace was my ability to shape words and thoughts and phrases in a way that touch and move others. She helped me find my voice and encouraged me to help others find theirs.
Yet oddly enough, when it comes right down to it, I, the journalism major, the poet, the songwriter, the speaker, the storyteller... I am unable to find the words that I feel do true justice to who Brandie was or what she meant to me. To all of us.
The thing that would crack her up right now is that "Ms. Wordy" has to resort to MATH to express herself...
And that is this:
Each of us is like a delicate equation, and Brandie was the variable without which we would not be who we all are or where we all are today.
I say again: We are all who we are because Brandie was a part of our lives.
THAT is the only math I can truly understand. The math of love, expressed in friendship, in families, in a mother for her child, between a wife and a husband, a love that turns strangers into close friends. The math by which Jesus brings us together. The math equation that uses a single variable at its most exponential power, through love, to ensure that no matter what you've been through, no matter what lies behind or before you, you (we) are not alone. Because love always makes room for more love... Heretofore known as The Brandie Equation.
Thank you, Brandisha Nicole Chism Yokie, for being that variable. Thank you for being our Bishaboo. Thank you for helping me understand MATH! We love and miss you so much! The only thing keeping me going today is the thought of seeing you again, reliving the laughter and the memories we made, and sharing in the love of all those who are in my life now because I knew and was loved by you.
Happy birthday, Pink Crayon!
