This is a difficult post to start.
Lea Michele recently got two new tattoos.
Now, this isn't exactly 'newsworthy' but her reasons behind them touched my heart.
She posted a photo 19 hours ago of a coffee mug on her right ring finger with a beautiful paragraph underneath (next to if you look at it online) about her grandmother who, sadly, passed away earlier this week.
She shared some sweet anecdotes about how her gran wasn't your 'typical' grandma and 'said something inappropriate to every boyfriend' Lea ever had.
Lea has always talked about her love for her family and I hope she's healing as well as she can be right now.
What a beautiful, sentimental way to pay tribute to her grandmother.
For me, if I got a tattoo to remember my gran, she'd probably roll over in her grave... She is not a fan of tattoos. But I love the coffee cup. It represents a beautiful memory Lea has of her late grandma and it's something she can look at every day and smile in remembrance of the wonderful woman who, clearly, meant so much to her.
What made me tear up though was her second tattoo.
Lea isn't new to getting tattoos - she has many others - but these two were extra personal.
Along with a tattoo for her grandma, she also remembered another important person in her life.
Cory Monteith passed away on July 13th 2013.
His death left millions of fans, his family, friends and fellow celebrities heartbroken.
Of course, the media jumped on Lea who was his girlfriend of two years at the time.
The love they had for each other was evident from the beginning and it never faded. Cory had even publicly
admitted they were a couple on The Ellen Show in December 2012, the year before he died.
Throughout their short time together, Lea and Cory flirted on Twitter and
shared snippets of their enviable life together in coy Tweets and Instagram photos as well as beaming whenever asked about the other in interviews.
The love they felt for each other is that kind of soulmate love that you experience once in your life if you're lucky and I remember looking at them and knowing that I would get to see them get married, have kids...
They were soulmates. They loved each other so much and it couldn't have been more evident if you'd painted signs on their heads saying they were together.
When he died, Lea was the main person on so many fans' minds.
How do you cope when the person you've planned forever with is so cruelly and unjustly taken from you?
Lea was seen flying to Vancouver (where Cory passed away) shortly after July 13th and she later revealed Kate Hudson had let her stay at her house while she tried to cope with the loss of her 'fallen hero'.
She posted a
beautiful Tweet on the 29th July 2013, sixteen days after he'd left us, thanking everyone for helping her through this time and saying that Cory would 'forever be in her heart'.
I remember talking to friends at that time and we just cried our eyes out over that Tweet.
Lea was brave in the worst possible time. She dealt with losing her boyfriend publicly and under a spotlight and she handled it with such grace and dignity.
Her first public appearance after his death was at the Teen Choice Awards in August of that year and she said the most beautiful thing to her fans after their show Glee's win:
Even reading that now tears me up.
Lea is such a strong person and, even though I don't love all of her work and I haven't been a consistent fan since the beginning, she will always hold a place in my heart.
When Glee resumed, after Season 5 filming was postponed to let the show's writers figure out how best to move forward, Lea was included in the writing of the fifth episode of that season 'The Quarterback'. That episode saw the characters saying 'Goodbye' to Finn Hudson, Cory's character on the show, and it was one of the most beautifully written episodes of any television show I've ever seen. Instead of talking about how Finn died, they focused on coming together and showing the characters grieving and remembering him before leaving you with an important life lesson about death; don't remember people for how they died, remember them for how they lived.
Rachel's heartbreaking performance of
'Make You Feel My Love' by Adele was chosen by Lea and was said to be personal to her and Cory. For Rachel, it was the first song they sang in the car together.
"Before Finn, I used to sing alone..."
The entire episode was beautifully done, despite many scenes having to be filmed in one take many times due to the actors' breaking down so much.
I remember, the night after I watched that episode, I curled up in a red T-Shirt, jeans and converse (the official 'Don't Stop Believing' outfit) and cried uncontrollably.
The thing is, I've never lost anyone that close to me (thankfully) and celebrities get into people's minds, they become part of our weekly routine as we watch their shows.
Finn was my first teenage TV crush and Cory was such an incredible guy. You wanted to get to know him because he had such a beautiful heart within him. Yes, he struggled but who doesn't have demons? I don't know if I'd react the same way now, three years on, as I did back then but his death will always be a significant moment in my life. It will always be my first experience with grief and I'll never fully understand why.
Even as I researched to make sure what I was remembering was right for some of these facts, I teared up.
People get the same way about Elvis and Diana even now.
But the dead are never forgotten. Especially not celebrities. I mean, there are videos of Elvis and Diana on YouTube and Cory is immortalised on film and on Glee. His talent lives on. It's just that he's not physically here anymore and that is really fricking sad.
Lea went on to write
'If You Say So' which is a song on her first album written about the immediate days in her world after Cory died. It's heartbreaking and I definitely cried like a baby listening to it for the first time. I still do. It showed loss in such a raw way and it was named after the last words he ever said to her.
She talked about how she'd gotten a
special tattoo for Cory a few months after his death but she got a new one earlier today that represents the character he played on Glee.
On the show, Rachel got the name 'Finn' tattooed on her body after Finn died but Lea's salute to Finn Hudson was more subtle.
She got a tattoo of the number on Finn's football jersey, which has extra meaning as she posted a photo of her carrying out
Finn's football memorial on her last day on set.
I don't really have anything left to say.
I'm sending Lea love and positive thoughts as she enjoys her spa day.
What a beautiful thing from a beautiful person.
Cory will never be forgotten, least of all by Lea, and I'm so glad she's keeping his memory alive in her own, loving way.
Jessica
xoxo
P.S. To donate to the Saint James Music Academy in Cory's name for what would have been his 34th Birthday on May 11th, please click on this link.
