I will always remember the first time I met her. My mom, brothers, and I met my uncle and his new girlfriend for dinner at Los Toribio's Mexican restaurant. We sat at a bright yellow and orange booth and got to know each other. I sat directly across the table from Chrissy and we connected immediately. She was in band in high school, and I had just finished my first marching band season. We geeked out together, and I knew my uncle BG had met the woman he'd spend his life with. She lived in Bowling Green, an hour and a half away from us, so I didn't get to see her as much as I would have liked to.

Fast forward to September 2011, my junior year of high school. BG and Chrissy were finally getting married! The ceremony was intimate, short, sweet, and to the point. Chrissy looked absolutely beautiful. It was one of the few times that I ever saw her wear a dress, fix her hair, and wear makeup. The way BG and Chrissy looked at each other that day is an image forever ingrained in my mind, especially as I prepare for my own wedding day. They were so happy and so in love, and I was so excited to finally be able to call Chrissy my aunt.

Chrissy always had a thing for “band booster hot dogs.” At every football game and marching competition, I could count on Chrissy to be sitting on the 50-yard line, cheering me on, and eating her hot dog. My senior year of high school, all of my family came to watch me perform at senior day. Everyone wanted to go somewhere nice for dinner, but Chrissy was perfectly content melting in the heat, sitting in the stands alone, and eating a “band booster hot dog.” This encompasses the simplicity of my aunt Chrissy's personality. She was never high maintenance and didn't demand much. She understood my love for band and for music and she supported me 100% in everything.

When I moved to college in 2013, I was living closer to Bowling Green, which meant I was able to make more trips to see my aunt and uncle. Anytime I had a free weekend, but didn't want to drive three hours home, the Clark house became my home away from home and my family away from my immediate family. Chrissy started to become more like my best friend and big sister. She was the person I would text asking every question under the sun. There was never any judgment, and always a promise of “I'll never tell your mom.” I was Chrissy's go-to phone call when they needed someone to watch “the kids,” Rhett and Taralyne, their lab/heelers. Because I was around them so often, Chrissy knew she could trust me to follow their routine and treat them like the “kids” they are.

When I signed my lease for my apartment last year, Chrissy selflessly rounded up sets of dishes, unused furniture, and recipe books complete with personal notes and her famous “can't come to Henderson without it” monkey bread recipe. I guess that's a perk of being the oldest and her only niece.

I celebrated my 21st birthday last October. Instead of going out with friends, I made a trip to Bowling Green to spend that special celebration with my aunt and uncle. BG has always had a rule that I didn't get gifts after I turned 18, but Chrissy broke that rule and spoiled me like I was her own child.

In February, I took my new boyfriend to Bowling Green to meet her, before he even met my parents. I was reminded of the day at Los Toribio's when BG brought Chrissy to town to meet us for the first time. Much like I immediately connected with Chrissy, Andrew did too. Chrissy promised to teach Andrew how to fit into our crazy, dysfunctional family. She gave him a run-down of how to behave around my family and how she learned to love all of us when she met and married BG. She explained to him how to be prepared for the craziness of playing Catch Phrase during family holidays.

Chrissy not only supported me, but also my little brothers. She was always the “cool” aunt that took my little brothers and I shopping and to places like Dinosaur World and Kentucky Down Under. She attended numerous football games for Bryce and Lego conventions with Brady. One of the most memorable football games that Chrissy attended with us was this past June at Western Kentucky University. Bryce, my fifteen-year-old brother, made the Kentucky All-Star football game and played in a tournament against the Tennessee All-Star team. Chrissy and I didn’t watch much football, because neither of us had any idea what was going on, but we were there to support Bryce. We talked about how close I’m getting to being in the real world. We talked about Andrew and I thinking about getting married and how excited she was to help us plan everything. We talked about my senior year and how she couldn’t wait to come see me march for the very last time and eat her “band booster hot dog.” We talked about the possibility of me moving in with her and BG to work on my Master’s Degree at WKU.

That conversation was extremely meaningful and a day that is forever etched in my mind. That day was the last conversation that I ever had with my aunt Chrissy. On July 6, 2016, I came home from work to find out that Chrissy passed away that morning. In a matter of minutes, my entire world fell apart. I lost a part of me that I thought would always be there. She was only 35 years old, and left this world way too soon. The days that followed were some of the worst days of my life. My best friend was gone, and there were no words to adequately express the hurt and anger that I felt. The thought of walking through my senior year of college without Chrissy was devastating. Who was I going to call when I needed advice or to get away and go out to eat at a nice Japanese restaurant?

Now, almost four months later, I’m learning that missing her only gets harder each day. There are so many days when I want to text her just to see what she’s up to. I had a marching band competition a few weeks ago at the high school where she marched, and I only wish she could have been there to see it. She would have been so proud and she would have loved every minute of the performance. There’s not a minute that goes by that my heart doesn’t break a little more. As time passes, I only miss her more. If I could just have one more day with her, I could tell her how much she meant to me and how much she impacted my life in such a short amount of time. Day by day, I’m learning how to live without Chrissy and how to love others so selflessly like she always did. I’m trying to daily live in a way that would make her proud, and enjoy my senior year like she would want me to.