Today there was a funeral in our community. Elizabeth Ayers a fifteen year old track star and high school student was buried at the First Baptist Church. We didn't know her and her family, although friends of ours did, but all day today, and off and on since the weekend, I have carried an ugly knot in my stomach. The thought that the end of a promising and beautiful life can happen so quickly and totally without warning makes me so sad and reflective. Our house is almost in sight of the First Baptist Church where she was laid to rest - the funeral was at 4pm. At 3 people had already started to gather and by 3.15 police cars marked each end of Broad Street, their insistent flashing lights warning people to slow down. By 3.30 cars were parked the length of Broad Street and well into the side streets.
We are not religious or churched, although most of our friends are. Since the weekend we have watched good friends struggle with this awful news - posts on Facebook, newspaper articles and the like. I have gained a new appreciation of the religious community in our town. We live in the buckle of the Bible Belt and many outsiders talk about the pressures to be religious at least, and regularly church going at best. I have frequently heard people remark, with sarcasm about Southerners,"all they want to know is where I go to church." I have lived in this town now for more than ten years and remai uchurched- but can honestly say I have gained a deep and abiding or the church-goers in my community this year. Today Courtney's reflections on Elizabeth's death moved me deeply.
RIP Elizabeth Ayers. Gone too soon.
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