Nearly a year ago, a good friend passed away. But her story doesn’t end there.
You see, through her friendship and the support group we formed at her diagnosis, new friends have come into my life. And stayed.
Now I’m so glad I had made room in my friendship cupboard – long before she passed I had Lysol-ed the energy vampires away and made room for some battery chargers. But I hadn’t yet filled it. Something told me to wait.
And, because of her, I met them – fabulous, smart, accomplished women with friendship and love to share. No snarping. No jealousies. Just people who love you and lift you up. People just like her.
We could have all just met last summer and had our laughs through the fall and cried together at her funeral and went our separate ways, and yes, there were some who did. But there are more who felt the void and looked around at other marvelous people left standing and thought – as I did – “I wonder.” And it’s in the re-connecting now, the laughter now, the telling of her stories now, that she lives on. In us. And that brown-eyed girl, man, she would have loved this.
Have you ever made a new friend in an unorthodox way? What has another’s death taught you about living?
