The following is the translated letter from the family of Sophie Collombet, read out during their daughter’s vigil at Kurilpa Park on April 10, 2014.
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Sophie,
Your birth was greeted with fireworks, for you chose the day of our village fair to come with great ease into this world on the 6th of September, 1992.
Since that day, we have been proud of you and of your radiance, for you have achieved all that you ever wished for ahead of your time.
Oh little one, you feared nothing. And in your enormous wisdom, distress could not touch you.
When your brothers looked after you, you were the one in command. They helped you to take your first steps, to read, to write, to listen to music, to drive. But more than anything, they loved you.
At four years’ old, you started playing sport, even though the basketball was bigger than you. And you knew what instrument you would play before you even took your first music lesson.
If ever in our beautiful village you lost your way, people would know which family to bring you home to, simply by looking at you. For you had the Collombet family blue eyes.
At five years’ old, you decided to learn to read and continued to shine throughout your learning years, always keeping a head start and your smile.
At six years’ old, you stood on the highest mountaintops, for you wanted to walk to the place where you could see the sun set.
And in that beautiful light, you kept on moving forward.
You could have merely learned foreign languages, but you wanted to live them. You wanted to travel.
You discovered Denmark, Germany and Australia, where you saw your first kangaroos even before getting on board the train with your friend.
Your life was all kindness, overflowing energy and cheerfulness. And with a simple smile ever present on your face, you always managed to bring happiness. You knew how to make the most of each beautiful moment that made up your life.
But this life has already come to an end.
In every corner of the sky, in every raindrop, in every lake, ocean, stream and river, we will recall the blue of your eyes. And so, we will always be with you and we will never forget you.
Sophie, Sophie.
Be you our daughter, our sister, our love or our friend. You exist in every blink of the eye, in every little flower, in every break of dawn.
You are life.
