*This is a special guest post from my sis to the Blue Dragon Enterprises Blog. As part of the healing process for all of us, I asked my sister to write about her friendship with Jana.
An unreal once in a lifetime friendship.
I can pinpoint the moment I knew I had finally met someone who could roast my brother within seconds of any comment he made....... My friendship with Jana Cochrane began on Facebook. Next to myspace, it was my first real expierence with social media. While commenting on one of my brothers threads on Facebook , Jana popped in and roasted us both. I loved her. She was unbelievably quick at ripping someone a new asshole and casually adding a smily face emoji after anything crude, rude, or ruthless she wrote. At times, it was so clearly the work of a genius.
Six months prior to meeting Jana in person and getting a friend request from her I was quite possibly at the worst place in my life mentally that I have ever been in. I had returned from my honeymoon only to be fired the same day. As a mother , the hardest thing to go through is job loss. I a few ups and a lot of downs along the way. Unknowingly to me, my future friend was about to go through the exact same expierence. Within months, I had burned through every dime in my savings but luckily had good ole unemployment as a back up source of income. Jana and I began casually chatting on facebook about "weeds" a show that we both enjoyed. I had every season on DVD (clearly a waste of money) and I decided that the best way to meet her in person was to deliver the seasons to her at work. To my suprise, she wasnt there. The exact day I went to drop the dvds off, she had been laid off. I sent her a text and she quickly called back asking if we could meet up.
She chose Starbucks on Myrtle . Even though it was hot outside (hot for humboldt) she showed up in a puffy vest . The quick meetup then turned into a four hour chat fest about our lives. From that moment on , I realized that this woman was not only funny, smart, and beautiful...... she had the one quality I admired in a person..... she was trustworthy. From that day on there was rarely a day that I didn't either text, talk to, or see her. At that point in time , Jana was single and she was VERY dedicated to her family. This was not only beautiful to see but also very difficult to understand. She drove up to her parents cabin almost every weekend , went grocery shopping for them, babysat her nieces and nephews and most importantly..... cared for her father who was on a waiting list for a new heart. Jana would often drive her father to his appointments at Stanford all while waiting on a donor for her father. See, the beauty of Jana was her ability to do so much for other people and never once complain. She had a way of making everyone around her feel valuable and important.
I can't count the number of times when I have called her in a panic crying over the smallest things and all the while knowing that regardless of the problem, she always had great advice. A lot of the time all I really needed was a "put your big girl panties" on lecture and oddly enough... within seconds I felt better. Her level of compassion for people and animals was unreal. Whether it was cleaning out her pantry and dropping "goody bags" off for homeless people by the mall, housesitting for people, adopting animals, she did it without a second thought. Looking back now, I realize that finding a friend like Jana would be equivalent to finding a unicorn- impossible. I shared many memories with her, many laughs, many meals, many cry sessions , and many moments that I will never forget. On January 9, 2015 I came home from work and noticed a mutual friend Terri had sent me a message asking me to call her ASAP. It was a phone call that would forever change my life. Through tears Terri said "Janas gone" . It was Friday and my first thought was that there was a horrible car accident (she typically traveled south on the weekends) but it was nothing I would have ever expected. As it turned out, Jana had collapsed at work and the EMTS were unable to revive her.
I spent the next hours sobbing in real heartache. A physcial pain that had somehow synced to my mind. I sat there in a state of shock crying until I ran out of tears. I took two xanax and chased them with a bloody mary. At that point in my life, nothing could have ever felt anyworse then that day and the days after. I have learned so much from her simple lessons . Whether it was " you cant change anything so just go with it", "you cant get blood out of a rock" , or "dude , let that shit go" every word echoed true. I have learned to remind everyone I love that I care for them and will be there regardless, to live everyday like it is your last, and to cherish every moment I have on earth. Jana left us all in a state of shock but the greatest thing she left us with was each others comfort. Since her passing I have had many conversations with people that I have met through Jana that have offered me comfort and the drive to move on. In the end, she brought us all together. For that, I will forever be grateful.
Stephen Collie has always enjoyed starting and managing businesses. In actual fact, by the time he was 16, he had already set up a network of friends at college. Soon afterwards, he began a financial marketing website and rented an office to be used as a trading room.
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