When I got the phone call early Saturday morning that told me Zona was no longer with us, I went into a minor state of shock.
This was one of us.
This was a classmate, a fellow class officer (and someone else who’d have to help plan our reunion in 4 years).
This was a friend I expected to see and hear from for years to come – perhaps not the close friend she once was but certainly someone I cared about and loved seeing whenever we happened to run into each other.
Zona, sweet, smiling, full of life Zona, was gone.
There are people who are put on this world by God to bless the lives of those around them.
Wherever they go, they exude some inexplicable inner light that brings out the best in other people.
Zona Lashara Johnson was one such person.
Zona brought joy and laughter to everyone with whom she came into contact.
Just being in Zona’s presence for a few minutes never failed to bring a smile to my face, as she would crack a joke or make a hilarious observation about something (or, more likely, someone) around us.
I know I’m not the only one who felt this way either.
As the news of her death started to trickle out to the rest of the Class of 2004 and Opelika, Facebook statuses and tweets from Opelikians all started to take the same tone.
We were all mourning the loss of one of our greatest sources of joy – where could we find a pure source of happiness now that Zona was gone?
Surprise and shock were also there, as classmates and friends began to message and call each other, asking if the news was really true.
Some of us worried we may never know that kind of joy again. Zona’s death has left a gaping hole in several lives.
I say to those members of my class and those friends who are hurting that it’s fine to grieve.
We have all lost one of the best of us.
We should take time to feel sad, to express the loss we feel inside of us.
However, we must also take heart, remembering the lessons that Zona’s life and example showed us.
While Zona may be gone, the memories and experiences we shared with her are not.
The joy we felt when we were with her can always be relived as long as we remember her and keep her in our hearts and minds.
Death cannot take away Zona’s God-given ability to bring joy.
Even though I still miss her and wish she was still here with us, I can look at old photographs and remember a time when she was among us, speaking truth when we needed to hear it and making us laugh when she knew we were blue.
We all have our individual memories that remind us of who and what Zona was to us.
Death can’t take that away either.
I’ll miss Zona.
Many of us will.
But, we’ll see her again some day, and that joy will eclipse anything we know here and now.
I long for that day.
Rest in peace, old friend.
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