"I Hope You Dance"

"I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger

May you never take one single breath for granted

God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance"

Lyrics from the song I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack.

These lyrics have really had a huge impact on my life. I have known the song for several years, since the time it first came out. Although I knew the song, I hadn’t really looked into the lyrics. The reason I looked into the lyrics and have now had the phrase “I hope you dance” tattooed on my foot, is because of my friend Sierra.

In the summer of 2009, my friend Sierra was in a car accident. Her and I weren’t very close friends, but it was still a very shocking experience, especially since some of my friends were very close with her. She was in the back seat of her friend’s car when he turned a residential street corner going 90 MPH. As soon as he turned the corner, he hit a parked car. They bounced off of the parked car, spun about a block down the street, and hit a light pole. Sierra was said to have been ejected from the car due to impact (according to police), but the passenger in the car said that they had pulled her out because they thought that the car was going to explode. When police and paramedics got there, Sierra was laying on a slab of cement about 15 feet away from the car…lifeless. Sierra died that night around 10:08, just minutes after the accident happened. I remember that night so vividly. I had been laying in my bed looking out the window and it had started to rain… as if it were a sign that something had happened. I looked at my phone and it was about 10:15. I was up late for some reason, and I was texting my boyfriend. Around midnight he got the news from another friend of ours, and then texted me with the words “Jess, Sierra’s dead!” I was in complete shock and couldn’t believe what I was reading. When I woke up the next morning I was immediately in tears.

About a week later her wake and funeral were held. It was an open casket wake, which was very eerie and hard to look at. She didn’t look like herself; all of the make-up covering the scars just put a bad last impression of her in my head. As bad as it may sound, I wish I hadn’t went to see her.. I wanted to remember her looking like herself.  As the ceremony went on, they started to play a slideshow of pictures with the song “I Hope You Dance” playing. It fit her so well; being the cheerleader and dancer that she was. It really hit me emotionally, and it played in my head for months. To this day, I sing the song every time it comes on the radio or my iTunes/iPod.

Along with the lyrics tattooed on my food, I got 4 stars; Pink for Sierra, Green for my grandpa (who passed away about a year and a half after Sierra), my aunt Sue (who had died when I was younger), and my hockey coach, Chris Johnson, who died just a little less than a year ago.

Whenever I look down at the tattoo on my foot, I remember that they’re with me and remind me of the words to this song. It reminds me that I can get through anything, because they didn’t get the opportunity to. It reminds me to stay strong.