The Good Life For Less: The Brightness Of Darcy

I'm going to digress a little from the normal format of The Good Life For Less to remember someone who lived a good life, my friend and co-worker Darcy Pohland.

Darcy passed away last Friday and today was her memorial.

She was loved by so many people and the week-long stream of condolences and flowers are a reminder of how many lives she touched, including my own.

There are many things I will miss about Darcy, but mostly its the little things; our chats about the Vikings and our mutual wariness then all out adoration for Brett Favre.

How she really embodied team spirit at work and especially with our common alma mater -- the University of Minnesota. Go Gophers!

I will miss how generous she was. If you work at WCCO, you know that in our building it is freezing 90 percent of the time. She would always offer up her little desk heater for me to use on the weekends or when she was away on stories.

Even when she was going through her own tough times with her mom's passing, she would ask me how I was doing with my much-less-significant leg injury. Such a thoughtful, sweet lady!

I remember when Darcy moved to a desk near mine. She didn't like the "cave" (her words) that she was sitting at and wanted a change closer to the assignment desk -- closer to the action (also her words). And the best part, to her, was that it was closer to the window and near more light.

I will be forever grateful for that, because that was when I got to know her better. She brought her positive energy over to our area. She didn't need the light from the window; she brought the light with her. She embodied it.

I'm grateful that I told her that.

Brightness -- that's the word I've heard over and over again this week about Darcy; she had her own light to her and was happy to share it with those all around her. It showed in her reporting on TV, the same way it showed if you knew her personally.

There's a quote that I've always felt was befitting of friendship in general, and a quote that I think is fitting for the way many people felt about Darcy.

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same."

Thank you for your footprints Darcy.

-Alison Lorge is a web producer and consumer blogger at WCCO.