15 years ago today

Do you have a best friend?  I mean not just the BFF thing but the friend that you can't imagine life without?  My mother-in-law once told me that having a best friend was a true gift.  Not everyone receives that gift.

My best friend was, Sue Johnson Lange, and she died 15 years ago today.  Sue was only 47 years old when she died.  That wasn't the plan.  We had raced down country roads doing things we weren't supposed to do together.  She shared a boyfriend or two.  We talked on the phone every single day.  We went to Weight Watchers together and we started going to Jazzercise together.  I could go on and on but you get the idea.  We had plans for the future as we aged together.

You know the song American Pie?  The one with the lyrics "the day the music died?"  That's exactly how I felt when I was given the news of Sue's death.  How was I going to go on without her?  I did, of course, but it took a long time.  It took time, a good deal of understanding from my husband and attendance at our hospice's grief support meetings.

I miss her every day.  I have plants from her yard in a garden we call "Sue's Garden" and I have pictures of her sprinkled around the house.

Next week I will be singing Carole King's Now and Forever at the Remembering Service that our hospice holds every year.  The lyrics fit my feelings perfectly.

If you have a best friend, cherish her/him.  Laugh, snort, whisper and giggle.  It is a gift.

                                       Sue Johnson Lange