Over dinner tonight, I sat with my co-worker Emily discussing comparisons between Instagram and Twitter. I remember telling her that I felt a sense of urgency to always make sure that I was caught up on Instagram because I cared more about it than Twitter. With Twitter, we agreed, that there was just too much noise. There were advertisements, silly re-tweets, and much more volume than we could catch up on. Five hours later and I’m feeling guilty about what I just said. I don’t have time to read my Twitter feed during the day, but I make an effort to catch up with it when I get home and I scroll and I scroll and I scroll until I can’t anymore because I don’t want to miss anything.

Tonight while doing what I do every night, I found myself doing a double take.

Greg Scruggs is our defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks. And Rachel Henley was a childhood friend. Her and I bonded over a weekend together along with 10 other girls from Washington while we shot photos for an issue of a magazine. She was two years younger than me, full of spunk and energy and always laughing. Her and Frankie got the cover out of the 12 girls and I remember being SO jealous. She spent most of her life battling from cancer. Though we weren’t able to keep in touch very much as we grew up, I tried to stay up to date on all of the girls I worked with back then. Social media helps you do that. I was especially happy when this video surfaced two years ago and Rachel was invited to hang out with the Seahawks. Jealous again, but also very proud of the woman that she grew up to be.

This wouldn’t be the first time that I would learn about a friend’s passing through social media, but it doesn’t change anything. Rachel had a whole life ahead of her that was taken too soon, but I know the Seattle community was strong in supporting her and that made her an even stronger fighter. Thank you Greg Scruggs for this incredible post that you wrote about Rachel and letting everyone know what a wonderful young woman she was.