ode to life | cameron dallas

Chapter 48

One Week Later
Funeral Day, July 31, 2027

**lines written in italics are flash backs from the entire book**

"I would now like to welcome Cameron Dallas to the stage, the husband of Ariel Dallas, for his commemoration," the priest said to the congregation of approximately 500 people. Cameron rose from the church pew and walked to the stage, where he brought his two-page handwritten eulogy. First, he scanned the audience.

The front rows sat Carter and Maggie, Matt, Mabel and Serena, the Jacks, Shawn, Aaron, Linda, Danny, Reily, their kids, and Nash. Among the rest of the sanctuary, Cameron spotted a few celebrities that Ariel had tatted or went to med school with. He even spotted Jesse, as well as his own ex-wife, Alice.

He stood there for a few minutes, silent and amazed by how many characters were included in his and Ariel's story. For a moment, he had forgotten that her death had impacted so many people as well.

Slowly, Cameron unfolded the bent pages with smudged ink and burnt corners from several cigarettes he had the night before. For a few, silent minutes, his eyes pierced the sad words written across the pages before he gulped all self doubt. I can do this, he told himself. He cleared his throat and began his eulogy.

~

"Ariel Vi-Dallas is my once in a lifetime best friend. No, we did not know each other since infantry. No, we did not see each other everyday. And, no, the physical aspects of our relationship will not last forever. In my timeline of knowing Ariel, we dated for one year, and was married for two, but I swear to you, I have loved her for these past ten.

You should never tell an author to write a eulogy, especially for the love of his life, because he will go on forever. I won't, because I'm aware that after this service, each of you have something to do, places to be, lives to continue. And in truth, I personally cannot fetch the right words to extol the graces of her. Everything I say will purely play out to be an understatement, because she is worth more than what words will ever make of her. That being said, I wish to eulogize her in a special way today.

In my sophomore year of college, I took a literature course that taught me how to analyze different excerpts to understand the author's purpose for his piece. First, you must include the 5 W's: the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of the story. That way, you understand the author's intentions, and could therefore, write an analytical thesis statement of the excerpt- in the author's point of view. In the same way, that will be the structure for my eulogy today. And I hope that when each of you leave this service, you gain insight on my perspective of Ariel Vi. Who I fell in love with and why, when it happened, where it happened, and what we had. If you've read my novel, you already know all these things. I encourage you all to listen anyway.

Who I fell in love with. Many of you know Ariel through her artwork, many of you know her as a surgeon. I know her through her ambition. She was the most independent woman I knew. Nothing ever stopped her from following her passions, even when the things she loved most conflicted with each other. She chased her dreams all by herself, something I was never brave enough to accomplish alone."

Cameron grinned. "And what are you doing with your life Ms. I-Follow-My-Dreams?"

"Simple," Ariel said. "Following my dreams. I've wanted to become a children's doctor ever since I was little, but I've always had an artistic side. I remember sketching celebrity portraits in restaraunt menus and always being intrigued by the anatomy and physiology of human organs. They were both my passions."

The person who she was, is the way we will all remember her by. I remember her curled up, listening to the sound of my heartbeat and tracing maps across my skin. I remember her laughing at my jokes, even the stupid ones. I remember her in hysterics, for absolutely no reason and in tears, because one time I made her so sad neither of us thought she'd recover. I remember all the firsts and how they were so delightful we went back for seconds and thirds and fourths. When it comes to it, I don't want to remember the ending. I just want to remember the beginning. I want to remember the first time I knew.