Jason

This afternoon I attended a memorial service for my cousin, Jason David Oliver. He died Friday, Aug. 20, at his home in Palo Alto, California.

Jason and I were never incredibly close. Living far away does that to you. But a few months ago, he Facebook-messaged me. We chatted for about an hour, and it was a great conversation. Partway through it, he told me that his girlfriend had just gotten back from Provo. I asked why, since most non-LDS people never have reason to come here. :) He told me her best friend was Mormon, and was attending BYU. He also informed that one of his good friends was also Mormon, and he'd attended church with him in past. Jason said his friend had never pressured him to come to church, or join, but that he (Jason) enjoyed going. He then proceeded to tell me that he couldn't understand why some people would say such negative things about Mormons and our church, and felt they were so intolerant to act like that.

This whole conversation was so out of the blue for me, but I loved it. I loved it because we connected on a deeper level than we ever had before. And today, I listened to people I'd never met tell stories about this man. They spoke about his smile, about how he liked to make people laugh, about his accomplishments.

One man got up to speak. He said he met Jason in college. He was a little older than the traditional college student, and probably felt like he didn't fit in with the rest of the students. But he said that Jason was the kind of person who made you feel welcome. He went up to that man and sat by him, talked with him, made him feel included. Afterwards, I thanked the man for his words. We talked briefly, and then he gave me a hug. I could tell he had a great deal of love for Jason.

But his words really made me think about the kind of person I want to be. I hope that when I die, people will say about me that I was the kind of person who made others feel comfortable and included.