A Farewell to the Old Clare Thomason

Looking out on the people here today, I can see the countless friends, family, and
supporters that have come in the loving memory of Clare Thomason.
As I know very few of you personally, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is
Clare Thomason. My past self and I met in early February this year; We met on her
birthday, February 4th. I realize this was a short while ago, and it’s surprising to see
someone so new to someone’s life giving their eulogy. The truth is, Clare was not
exactly an organized person, but trusted her gut and chose me; What she lacked in
planning, she always made up for in courage.
When I first met Clare, she seemed chaotic. She would bounce from one activity
to another, and seemed to do whatever she wanted. She knew how to get things done
when she needed to, but in a way she always jumped in headfirst. She didn’t care much
to think about how she’ll accomplish a task, and if you asked her when she was going to
figure that out, she would laugh and respond “that’s part of the fun.”
Clare and I always had a good time, but she helped me realize that sometimes a
plan is necessary. I loved having a good time with her, but when it came to getting
things done, I had to often hold her back, and help her plan things out before diving in. It
hurt me to see her struggle in the deep end, but she eventually learned to take things
slow, and carefully swim to the deep end.
I think we can all be inspired by Clare’s bravery. We must teach ourselves that
there’s a time to have things carefully planned out, but we must also know the times to
take a leap into the unknown. Clare will always be there to tell me to stop trying to make
things go to plan, and instead have fun and go where the wind takes me.