When Sydnie passed away she was able to donate 4 of her organs. The transplant coordinators gave my entire family all a heart stone as a keepsake. A small token to remind us of the live saving gift Sydnie gave.

We each took turns picking a stone, then we each held our rock tight with Syd's hand so we would all have these keepsakes that Syd had touched and held. 

Sitting in her hospital room, we started talking about Sydnie and her life when my mom started crying, "It's not fair. None of this is fair." She said between her tears.

She was right; we all knew it. The life that we were remembering was short, it was incomplete, but it was also over. We sat together, all crying, and shared the things we knew Syd had told us she wanted to do. 

My mom shared that Syd told her she wanted to hike a mountain.

I laughed about how Syd wanted to go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans the year she turned 21.

My best friend shared how excited Syd was for our upcoming Disney trip.  

My dad sat silently in the corner. We looked at him because we could tell he was thinking, but we had no idea what he was about to say was going to change the rest of our lives. After a few more moments, he looks at each of us and says, "Why don't we do it? We do the things she wanted to do, and we do them for her. We will leave a rock there for her each place we go."

We all sat in silence and let that sink in. 

"We can use it as a way to spread Syd's love and joy for life everywhere we go." My mom added.  

I smiled, "We're going to need more rocks."

— — — — —

So, friend, that is where the Syd Stone started, for my family at least. But one thing I have learned in the last few years since Syd has passed is that the world needs more kindness. It needs more joy and compassion. I have spent every day of the last 6 years trying to be more like Syd, to be kind the same way she was.

Sydnie was truly a remarkable human and it feels selfish to keep her memory all to ourselves. The more people that know Syd and her story, the bigger impact she can have on the world.

If she was still alive, she would have changed the world for the better.

But even in her death, she can make a difference.