Lauren Wessel, Duke

"When Molly Magnuson told us that she was moving to Ohio I could not understand how she would allow her family to do such a thing. We were ten years old, and I could not fathom why anyone would move from a suburb outside of the capital of the free world to a place that sounded as weird as Ohio – I also thought the whole state consisted solely of cubicles and Cleveland Indians fans based on my impressions from The Drew Carey Show. My main reaction was, “Why?” Fourteen years later, I now reflect on Molly’s move and can’t have imagined my life without it… not because I wanted Molly to leave, but because I cannot imagine my life without Lindsay.

Molly introduced Emily and Linds before the beginning of our freshman year at Duke, and I remember Emily being both so excited to live with her and a little nervous that Lindsay was too cool for her. Truth be told, Lindsay was too cool for all of us. I remember Emily and Lindsay coming by my dorm on move-in day and first thinking, “How in the world can they let two giraffes room together?” My second thought was, “Yup, that girl is way to cool for me.”

Over the next four years, Lindsay somehow accepted me, in all of my comparative lameness, and became one of my best friends. Through the short time that I was fortunate enough to have known Linds, I realized that, though her undeniable coolness came in part from knowing everything about anything, her most incredible trait was how she so fully embraced everyone and everything around her. Lindsay lived and she brought everyone else along for the ride.

I did not understand this until I went to Australia with her. Lindsay was the driving force behind almost every big event we had in Australia (and every small event, for that matter). She had an energy about her that was undeniable and she could make me have fun no matter what the activity. Whether it was joining a co-ed rugby team, painting everything on her body silver to be the best Tin Man that Australia has ever seen, or simply having a heartfelt conversation with a friend, Lindsay never did anything half-assed.

Lindsay never wanted to miss a moment of life – she knew that there was potential for any experience to be mediocre, but she also knew that she could make every experience great and there was no reason to miss out on that. I remember in my last conversation with Lindsay, I was telling her that my clothing was sprawled across every functional surface of my apartment, but that I didn’t care because I had things to do that were way more important. In response, she said, “Well isn’t that what your furniture is for? It just makes it more convenient to grab your clothes when you’re in a rush to leave so you don’t have to rummage through your closet.” I can’t count the times that Lindsay and I decided to do something completely on a whim, grabbed a change of clothes sprawled across a chair or desk, and were off to our next adventure. Lindsay never missed a moment of life and I’m so grateful that I was lucky enough to share part of her ride."