I have never been able to put into
words, as much as I’ve tried, a thorough description of Justice.
I’ve struggled with this so much that on her Basketball Senior
night this past year, I had to ask her friends to send me 1 word that
they would use to describe her. I took those words and put them onto
a poster, hoping that what I couldn’t do, would be articulated
through their vision of her.
I think if that was how I had to
describe her, I could narrow down all of the adjectives and just sum
it up with…
Justice was a vision.
She had immeasurable beauty as we all
know. That was the easy part to recognize. At 5’11”, 140 lbs,
caramel skin, honey brown eyes, huge curly hair (when she didn’t
straighten it) and a smile so big and bright it out shined the sun -
she was the girl who stopped the room when she walked in. Even with
her hair up and work out clothes on, her long arms, square shoulders,
long legs and tiny frame commanded the room effortlessly. One of the
basketball moms told me “you know when you watch a movie and the
starlet walks into the scene and the wind starts blowing her hair and
everything is in slow motion?” She said “that’s how I felt
every time she walked in the gym. Every time. I couldn’t wait to
see her play.” I kind of laughed, but she was right. All eyes were
usually glued to her in whatever setting she was in and whatever
media you viewed her on.
During her time at Barbizon modeling
school, both in Tampa and in Richmond, they assured me that Justice
was going to be able to go anywhere she wanted in the world to model.
She…had…it.
But besides her easily recognizable
outward beauty, she was also a vision of inward beauty. There were
few people that she didn’t have wrapped around her finger. It was
easy for her to charm anyone with her smile, but even easier for her
to charm them with her heart. She was genuinely one of the kindest
people I have ever know. She has done some great works in her short
life, and several things I didn’t even know she had done until
recently.
Justice would cry at the thought of
child or adult suffering. She made me pull over and buy a meal to
feed a homeless man on the bench. She volunteered on occasion at the
animal shelter. She volunteered last summer at a local youth
basketball camp. When she got her car, she blew through gas money. It
took me a minute to figure out why, but she was picking up all of her
friends who had to walk to school. She had me buy single yellow
roses so we could deliver them to the elderly women at her grandma’s
work on Mother’s Day. Things that I didn’t know she had done had
the greatest affect on her friends.
Before recently, I didn’t know that
Justice was always the first one to greet a new person in class,
encourage them to sit near her and introduced them to other people.
She didn’t just do this in the last few years, she’d been doing
it since she was very young. And several credit her for their
confidence today because of her welcoming nature. I also didn’t
know that Justice would be given credit by several friends for their
ability to graduate high school. But they told us that if it weren’t
for her texts and calls of encouragement, and letting them know that
they could be successful long after high school, they may have given
up and quit. I was informed in June of this year that J had updated
her driver’s license to be an organ donor. And after she passed
away, they were able to use the lens of her eye to help 2 people see
again. For this, I couldn’t be more proud.
Justice was also a vision of fun,
laughter and enthusiasm. She had a big, loud laugh to match her
smile. Her basketball team shared that she would get all the girls
together in the locker room before games and make them “twerk” to
livin’ them up and take the pressure off. She was the bravest
person I know and didn’t understand people being afraid. So with
her love of scary movies, big roller coasters and anything that made
you want to dance, sing or enjoy the moment a bit more, she would do
it and encourage you to do it as well. She was the friend everyone
wanted because of her love of life, people, laughter and most of all,
children.
From the time she could say what she
wanted to be, Justice knew she was going to be a pediatrician. She
has never once wavered from that. Her grace with children was
remarkable. She immediately gravitated towards any young child in the
room. She always said they were “soooo cute” and focused most of
her attention on the little one. I recently learned that when she
dated Carlos in 11th grade, that when Justice came over,
she would have to switch clothes with his 2 year old sister. She
loved J so much and wanted to wear her shirts like a dress. Justice
always complied and through on sweats and a t-shirt to make Leila
feel like a beautiful princess like Justice. During high school, J
took classes around the medical subject. Some of her happiest high
school memories were going to the elementary schools and doing
clinical with the kids. She never missed an opportunity to be with
children. She spent many years as a babysitter in the community,
which included children who were handicapped as well as several with
severe to mild autism. She was very successful at her job too. She
started her first job at Justice clothing store on black Friday 2
years ago. Her boss tells me that she was “uniquely gifted at her
job”. Again, her way with children made them feel at ease, feel
special and most of all, feel beautiful.
She shared a compliment she got at work
her first summer and received a commendation for. A young girl, about
10, came into Justice and had a large scar on her chest from an open
heart surgery. The girl was looking for shirts and scarves that would
cover her scar. Justice spent nearly an hour working with the girl to
pick out outfits that made her feel better. But, during the entire
interaction, the girl’s mother observed Justice telling her how
beautiful she was, that she didn’t need to cover her scar and that
she she wear it more as a badge of honor. J explained to the young
lady that she should feel very proud of that little line on her
chest. “It shows that you are strong and brave” she told her.
“None of your friends can say that they had such a surgery and
lived through it. You should be proud of it”. By the end of their
shopping experience, the girl’s mother was in tears at the register
and shared that no one has ever made her daughter feel so good and
confident about her scar. She was so grateful for Justice’s
encouragement and I have no doubt, that little girl left with more
than a bag of new clothes that day. She left with a little part of
Justice’s spirit inside of her.
I want you to know that Justice lived a
very full life. She never missed a day to play, sing, reach out, seek
adventure, and be the best friend she could be. She had an action
packed life. She really filled her 18 years with some great memories.
In her time, here are some of the things she got to do.
- White water rafting in North Carolina
- Snorkel on the coral reefs in Belize
- Road mopeds along the beautiful shores of Cozumel
- Rope Swing into the lake in Georgia & North Carolina
- Climbed waterfalls
- See the Harlem Globetrotters and even make friends with their tallest player, Stretch, who was the only person who ever made her feel short
- Attend many concerts from the Cheetah Girls to several years of the Warp Tour, A huge list of hip hop artists, Miley Cyrus, Bruno Mars and see her “future husband” Lil Wayne. She even became friends with a rock star, the drummer from T-Mills, who happened to be a very religious person and encouraged her to do great things
- She road jet skis in the Gulf of Mexico
- Swam with sea turtles and sting rays in Grand Cayman
- Climb all 5 levels of a Tree and Rope course, taken her 3 stories above ground and back down a 1500 ft. zip live that she didn’t even bat an eye at.
And while Justice was always up for Big
Adventures, she was always down for the smallest ones too. From
riding swans in Baltimore, to visiting the Statue of Liberty and 9/11
Memorial, joining the Muscular Dystrophy Association Muscle Walks
each year , digging up clams on the beach or just bumping music in
the car along the dark, winding back roads here in VA, it was always
her will to live life to the fullest. And I thank God that she did
that.
Justice was a vision of beauty, a
vision of kindness and thoughtfulness, she was a vision of joy, a
vision of courage, a vision of friendship and above all, a vision of
God’s grace. She was the greatest gift both in person and now in
spirit. I’m so very lost without her. But although I can never
watch her leap like a gazelle to block a basketball, or make her
brother laugh about nothing or see her hold up her phone in front of
her face for her 10th selfie of the day, I know that she
is with us and my vision of her will never be lost.
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