tribute to zillah

I've been realizing how different my life is going to be after this week. I've never lived in Provo without my cousin Zillah - even when we weren't roommates, we've always lived relatively close to each other. Zillah is moving to South Bend, Indiana this weekend, where she will be starting a Ph.D. program. She's amazing.

Zillah has always been one of my close friends. I can't remember a time when I didn't know her. I was always excited to visit her family because we inevitably would be allowed to have a sleepover. One time, when my parents came by to pick me up from a sleepover, Zillah hid me in her closet. I remember listening to people going through the Siebach house, looking for me. I think that was the time our parents decided to let us stay together a little while longer - Zillah got to drive up with my family to Idaho and visit our great-grandma. We really lucked-out that time; usually our plans to hide and prolong the sleepover weren't so effective.

Growing up, I always admired Zillah - and I still do. She was a great swimmer (she was nice to watch me flounder around the Scera pool when we went swimming), she was always very tan in the summer, and she was very beautiful with long, long blonde hair. As we got older, I admired how quickly Zillah read the Sunday comics and even later, how well she spoke French.

Zillah has been my confidant for a long time. When we were teenagers, we would always go up to our grandma's computer room and talk for hours. We would talk about our latest crushes, drama productions, school activities, plans for the future, etc. There was a time when Zillah wanted to run as president of the United States. She asked me to be her running mate, and I immediately agreed. I don't think she ever really thought that I would make a good vice-president, and I don't think I ever wanted to be involved in politics. But I knew that we would make a good team.

In high school, Zillah and I were quite silly. We developed this silly kiss-on-the-cheek ritual (well, we never really kissed on the cheek, but kissed the air next to the person's cheek). We decided that we had to give each other an additional kiss each time we saw each other - which turned into a very prolonged kiss-the-air ceremony. I'm glad we stopped that practice when we became roommates in college. Not only would our other roommates have thought us very strange (even though they did think that for a while, right Ixoj?), but we would have wasted a lot of time completing our obligatory kiss-the-air game.

Zillah continued to be my confidant throughout college. Even though Zillah didn't share my penchant for sleep as a freshman, we would still find lots of time to chat. She would always listen to me oogle over (or complain about!) boys. She was always supportive of whoever I decided to date (even if later she admitted that she didn't really like the guy). I continued to confide in Zillah after my mission too - after J and I talked about getting married, Zillah was the first person I told.

There are few people who are as kind-hearted, generous, witty, intelligent, interesting, beautiful, and talented as Zillah. Provo will not be the same without you. Best of luck to you and K. I look forward to visiting you in South Bend and creating more memories.