When I was eighteen I left my hometown in the San Francisco Bay Area and headed off to attend college at The University of Southern California. Not long after that I made my first return trip to the Bay Area, and today, almost twenty years later, I can safely say that I’ve made that six hour long drive across the state of California at least a hundred times.

This may be hard to believe, but I actually enjoyed making each of those long (and often boring) drives. They gave me the opportunity to listen to a new album all the way through, to lose myself in my thoughts, or to engage in a freewheeling conversation with a loved one or friend. But the best thing about those rides was always the reason for making them:

To spend Thanksgiving with my family and eat way more turkey than was appropriate…

To go to my sister’s wedding and take bridal party photos on a cable car…

To scream my head off alongside forty thousand other rabid Giants’ fans at a playoff game…

To sit in the second row at the HP Pavilion in San Jose as Paul McCartney and his band performed Beatles’ classics….

To hold my nephews and niece minutes after they were born…

To wake up on Christmas morning with Maddie and unwrap presents with her cousins…

To reunite with high school friends and reminisce about “back in the day”…

To help my father celebrate his seventieth birthday party…

To share a chocolate brownie and hot cocoa with Heather and Annie at Ghirardelli Square…

And dozens and dozens of other wonderful reasons.

Yesterday, however, we made the drive for a very different reason. This time there was no concert, holiday, or birthday awaiting us. Instead, we made the drive to attend the memorial of our beautiful friend, Jackie.

Today is certain to be a very difficult day. Heather will be speaking, and each and every one of us who love Jackie will be doing our best to keep it together.

Please keep the Oswolds in your thoughts today as we celebrate Jackie’s life.