April Victoria Ford

April Victoria Ford 51, of Erie died January 5, 2018 at her home. Memories of April I met April when we were 12 – she was the smart American girl that came to our little school in Florida, South Africa. We became best friends a few years later in high school and were inseparable from the age of 16 until about 10 years later when she returned to her home in the US. In the 10 years before April went back to the US, I saw or talked to her every single day. Over the years I visited April in the US. I came over a couple of times when she was living in Virginia with Grant and then just before I got married I visited her in Phoenix and finally, when my son was 6 years old, we visited her in Colorado. At that time, I was happy to see her settled and living in her beautiful home with her mom and Lillie close by. I spoke to April on the phone frequently when we were younger and living on separate continents – she was my sounding board and my best friend and I didn’t know how to make a decision without her insight and wisdom. We spoke about once or twice a year in the last few years. She was often sick and it would take a great deal of energy for her to be on the phone but she always listened and offered her wisdom. Our best memories were always our beach holidays together. During our student years, we took a number of these. We would find a beach and spend our days on it – swimming, tanning, laughing, eating fruit and cheese and talking well into the night. We were never at a loss for conversation and topics ranged from philosophy to books, music, poetry and movies and our hopes and dreams. We were young and beautiful and we didn’t know what lay ahead but I have never laughed again as much as when we laughed together. Whenever we spoke in later years, April would talk about these holidays and how she would love to come back to South Africa and visit the beach again. April loved well. She loved her family (her mom, Holly and her beautiful family and Lily), her cats and her friends and if you were loved by April it was fierce. She would stand up for you no matter what and would run the course with you with every fibre of her being. I experienced this fierce love on a number of occasions when I most needed it and what a privilege it was…. In many ways, April’s life was tragic and difficult. Her difficult childhood impacted on her adulthood in ways that nobody could have imagined. Her depths of despair and her soaring joy were equally remarkable. April’s sensitivity to the world made her life almost impossible to bear and it is this that makes me so sad today. I continue to think of April at least once a day – a beach, a sunset, two young girls laughing, a sense of despair, my son, a curious question, an American accent, an intriguing piece of art, a kitten, a beautiful cat…all of these and so much more will bring a fleeting memory of the girl April was and the woman she became. And finally, some lines from a song we both loved by Heather Nova: ‘I saw a mountain from higher above I held your hand and I was doubled up in love Big sky above me, a river inside me And I'm doubled up in love You're watching your step But you fall as you're walking You take it in your stride But still you fall as you're walking Big sky above me, a river inside me And I'm doubled up in love Feels good, it feels like poetry Don't ask me to explain It just feels good, like poetry Doubled up again Look at the sky Lift off like an aeroplane and Watch the ground come up to meet you Big sky above me, a river inside me And I'm doubled up in love’ Be well at last, my beautiful friend. Juliet – 8 January 2018 Service Information Visitation Sunday January 14, 2018 1:00 PM to 1:30 PM Carroll-Lewellen Funeral Chapel 503 Terry Street Longmont, CO 80501 Celebration of Life Sunday January 14, 2018 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM Carroll-Lewellen Funeral Chapel 503 Terry Street Longmont, CO 80501