In Memory of Heidi   Most of you gathered today do not know me. I'm not from Heidi's childhood. I wasn't there when Heidi found out Mom didn't have the monopoly on bread making, and that it could be bought in a store presliced. I've never cruised 4th street in Lansing with Heidi, Jenny,and Eric, and I've only chanted "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" under Heidi's coaching here in Hawaii. I'm from Heidi's adult life.     I met a natural, self-possessed, energetic, professional woman named Heidi while hiking in the mountains of Oahu. We grew together, played together, joined our friends,shared our lives, taught each other, and we loved each other deeply.     I am struggling now, as are all of you, to reconcile the tragedy of Heidi's death, just as she struggled to reconcile many things which she experienced, expected, and feared in her brief life.     I am grieving, as are all of you, over the loss of a beautiful, genuine,and loving companion who's potential and promise seem left unfulfilled.     I am comforted, as I hope you will be, to remember the joy Heidi experienced in her friendships and adventures.     I will cherish her presence, with all of her impatience, directness, gentleness, wonder, and radiance, all the years of my life.     with love, Jim Niermann  
 

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