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Theresa
Marie, a name like music
March 31, 2005
By Julie Kay Smithson
Say her name. Say it out loud and let the spring breezes carry it
'round the world. Let everyone know that Terri lived!
Tell the world that Terri Still Lives and will never die, for she
now has life eternal.
A name like music, a woman who could not have guessed -- in the years
when she could sing along with John Denver songs and enjoy her love
for animals and had so much love to give -- that the choice of who she
married would lead down such a road.
Terri was born to Robert and Mary Schindler on December 3rd, 1963,
christened Theresa Marie Schindler.
She was someone I never met, but before her death I would come to feel
a kinship so personal that it almost defies words. Theresa Marie --
Terri -- came to be my sister in spirit.
Say her name. Say it out loud and let the spring breezes carry it
'round the world. Let everyone know that Terri lived!
There, but for the Grace of God, could have been me.
I was once married to a violent person and barely escaped with my life
in 1977.
Terri, like me, was full of life and love.
In the past eighteen short months, I've come to look upon Terri as my
sister -- a sister, not only in Christ, but also a sister in
experience.
Say her name. Say it out loud and let the spring breezes carry it
'round the world. Let everyone know that Terri lived!
The hurt is over for us both now. The battering 'spouse' is history,
never to harm either of us again. For the past year and a half my
heart has been journeying with Theresa Marie's, trying to help her
escape the ruthless clutches of those bent on her destruction.
They failed miserably.
They could not touch Theresa Marie's faith. They could not besmirch
her loving heart and her gentle soul. They never will.
I am reminded of the words of a pop culture song: "You can't
touch this."
So, say her name. Say it out loud and let the spring breezes carry it
'round the world. Let everyone know that Terri lived!
Terri
Lives!
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