Coupeville Sports

Stacie Farmer turns 26 this Saturday.

She is not here to celebrate the milestone, but her spirit remains with everyone who met her, for a day or a lifetime. She continues to touch us all, and that will never change.

There may be anger on her birthday, which is also, unfortunately, the day of her passing. Stacie was only 24 when she left the psychical world, her body unable to overcome the pain and horror of a terrible accident. In a world full of hateful, spiteful people, it is hard to accept that someone who shone so brightly, and with such openness and love to others, should be the one to leave.

But it’s that openness, that love, that wild embrace of life that she exhibited in everything, every day, every way — on the softball field at Coupeville High School, hanging out at Miriam’s Espresso or flying down a river in West Virginia — attacking each new adventure with a sense of glee.

Wherever she went, she remained her own person. In a job description she posted on Facebook, she said her duties were: I get paid to chill with kids and their sticky jam hands too.

Farm Dog connected everyone. Bouncing through life, her dreadlocks and eternally smiling face live on through the memories of her friends — and anyone who met her became her friend.

I still hope that Coupeville High School officials will listen and do the right thing, naming the softball field at CHS for Stacie.

Not only was she a talented player, but her message — that you treat everyone as if they were your friend and you’ll be surprised how many respond in kind — is one that should never be forgotten. Putting her name, and memory, in a place where the young athletes of Coupeville learn life lessons, couldn’t be more appropriate.

Of all the time wasted on Facebook, the best day I ever had was July 19, 2011.

That day we set out to take our tribute page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Name-the-CHS-softball-field-for-Stacie-Farmer/180461272015937) to what we thought of as a big milestone. The page was less than a week old and we wanted to crack 100 “likes.”

Instead, over the next 24 hours, 374 new people joined. Eventually we settled in at close to 800 “likes,” equal to more than a third of Coupeville’s population.

It was an amazing outpouring of love and support for Stacie and her family, a promise she would not be forgotten, that we would remember the message in her mellow smile.

And so that is what I will do this week and what I hope others can do as well. Instead of dwelling on the anger and hurt and sadness, I hope we can take time to remember the lives she touched, the joy she brought to those around her, the light she spread in her time amongst us.

In tragedy, new hope has bloomed.

I have watched as friends from the past have been reconnected, sharing their stories of Farm Dog on her personal Facebook page, which her family left open for just that reason. I have seen strangers drawn together by the light she left behind.

Refuse to give in to the pain and darkness. Remember Stacie and remember her words — Bhavuta sabba mangalam. May all beings be happy.