Jackie Marie Plant - Online Memorial Website

Excerpts from the Eulogy to My Sister Jackie

Growing up I never recognized the importance and the blessing of what having a sister meant.  To me, then, Jackie was what the cliché younger sister was supposed to be:  sometimes aggravating…okay A LOT of the time aggravating, a tag along at times, someone that I had to watch every second and the task of protecting her throughout school to the point that we would have the endless “you’re not my mother” argument.  Together we labored through things like caring for our younger brother’s and sisters, a task that we took on at many times at the cost of our childhood.  Somehow we managed through to adulthood and it wasn’t until then that I realized what a gift God had given me in my sisters and brothers. 

Jackie was the one that I could go to when nobody else would listen.  She was the one that gave the shirt off of her back, even though she barely had enough to make ends meet.  I never got the chance to thank her for that and so many other things she brought to my life.   There were so many things that I did not get to say to her because I had pushed it off until the right time or until “tomorrow.”   On November 12^th, 2006 my “tomorrow” didn’t come and I have to live with that.  But I know that she is here in spirit and so I’m going to tell her now:

Jackie, I’m sorry I took so much of you for granted.  I took your sweetness; I took your kindness, and your bravery all for granted.  I just assumed I would always have that.  I never thanked you for bringing such a beautiful son into the world as my nephew.    I never took the time to appreciate the little things you did for me.  You always listened….really listened to me when I came to you and offered me advise that made sense.  Somehow I could not do the same for you without sounding like I was lecturing.  I’m sorry that I didn’t “listen” the way you did.  I’m sorry that I left you with the burdens you had to take on when I left you in 99’.  I never knew how much you thought I was abandoning you until just recently when I finally read your “sister’s” book.  Another sweet thing you wanted to do with me and I put off until the last minute while you stayed up until it was done filling it with memories that I had long forgotten.  I want to tell you that you are my best friend and the best sister anyone could ask for.  I envied the love and caring approach you shared with your son and I was so proud of you when you and Tony wed and you found your prince.  When you first found out you had cancer I just took for granted that you would get through it and I wasted so much precious time avoiding you because I didn’t want to accept the disease.  I’m even more sorry that I could not take your pain or your place so that you could be with your son today.  There’s so much more that I could apologize for but that is going to take years. Jackie, you are the most beautiful, talented and the bravest person and sister and I love you for all of your quarks and your humor…especially your humor.  I will miss that the most.

Now I want to tell you that people say there is a calm before the storm well Jackie was that calm before, during and after the storm.  She was my anchor and my calm seas she was the most unselfish person I have ever known.  Even through this cancer she fought to allow medical science use her chemotherapy, stem cell transplants and countless other tests to better the education on her rare disease so that others inflicted with germ cell ovarian cancer could benefit and perhaps have a chance for survival.  She is truly a hero.  I am so proud of her and I LOVE her more than you know and I know that no distance can keep us apart because we are sisters forever.  I thank her for showing me how to live life how to listen to people and giving me the chance to correct the mistakes I made with her by extending the love she shared to others.  I can’t wait to see her again and I don’t know what she would say to me right now, but I know that I will hear her sweet voice tell me again one day when we meet again.  I chose a quote that I felt best fit her battle and it is on her website that was created the day after her death and it is by Srijit Prabhakaran:  “I only remember two kisses- the first and the last.  The first with my love and the last with my death.  The first brought me happiness and the last brought me relief.” 

Lastly, I want to say a prayer: 

“Dear God,

Thank you for giving us Jackie, although we only had her a short time on Earth.  Please take care of her the way she should have been taken care of down here.  Please guide us to healing down here emotionally from losing such an Angel on Earth, although we understand why she was chosen to join you in heaven.  Please guide her son, Anthony, so that he will grow up with an understanding of how much he meant to her and please help her husband take on the task of both the mother and father in her physical absence.  Please be with her mother in law so that she can heal as she was there at her bedside during her worst moments and cared for her every need and her attended to her son and grandson.  Please watch over all of us so that we can grow closer together and learn to not take any moment of life for granted ever again.  Thank you for your every kindness and blessing and please let your eternal light shines down on us.  Please forgive us if we seem now not to understand the full extent of why she was chosen to join you, resulting in her physical loss in our lives.  Thank you for showing her mercy when she needed relief because she would not have given up the fight if you had given her the choice because as you know she is stubborn (please bless yourself and all of your other angels for taking on that beautiful trait.)  We love her and we love you for eternity for forgiving us for our sins in the past and in the present and more importantly your continued forgiveness and patience for the sins we will commit.  I know some of us here are struggling with her loss, but forgive us for our doubts.  Amen.”