A few words at Tara's funeral

This is Kevin. I just wanted to make the words that I spoke at Tara's funeral available, for those who wanted to see them.

This is not a eulogy, Leanne has already done that better than I ever could. I just want to talk briefly about the effect that Tara has had on my life.
Tara was a woman of boundless enthusiasm, a woman who never held anything back. It used to annoy her that when asked to rate a movie or book on a scale of one to ten, I would never give anything a ten, because I was always saving that slot, holding onto it for something better that might come along. By contrast, not only did Tara assign tens freely, she often would proclaim that a movie, or an author, or a food, was “the best ever”. I always wondered how so many things could occupy the top slot. But Tara was completely sincere – all of these things were wonderful, all were the best.
All of you are familiar with how open Tara was with her feelings, how her face would light up when she was happy, or darken moodily if she was displeased or sad. I used to watch her as we would watch movies or television, and there was never any question as to how she felt about the show, whether bored, or angry, or sad, or amused. Amused was especially easy, as she liked to laugh. But all of her reactions delighted me, whether positive or negative, whether about food or politics, because Tara cared – strongly, about many things, from friends and family, to the fate of the nation, to whether there was the right kind of margarine on the table. If she was being picky, then good for her, because she was alive, and this wasn’t someone who just went through the motions, she lived life intensely, and it made me more alive to know her.
When I first met Tara in the dorms at NIU twelve and a half years ago, I visited her room, which was filled with music, with fiction, with history, and I realized that this was an interesting person, and I hoped that maybe just maybe, she would be interested in me. To my good fortune, she was.
I could tell you all the ways that Tara has been good for me over the years, all of the many ways that she has supported and helped me and delighted me, but really there are two things that she did for me above all others 1st ,she let me make her happy. There were times in my life that I would be down on myself, full of self doubt, – and then I would realize “but you make her happy”. To have this extraordinary woman light up to see me, to see her smile at me, to know that somehow I made her happy just by being who I was – that was more than enough. 2nd, she brought us Kiera, our beautiful little girl, who is sure to grow up into a smart young woman like her mother .
Tara, I love you. You are my ten. Shine on.