I’m spending the early part of this day grocery shopping, paying bills, and puttering around as I wait for 3pm to get changed to head on over to a wake and funeral service for a friend who died on Monday from heart-related complications from Covid. She was 48 years old, wife, mother of a 17 year old and 12 year old.
I met her in 1997 when she came to work at the insurance brokerage I worked at and it was maybe her second job after graduating college. She sat right across the small aisle from me and was always asking questions, sometimes the same over and over. I know that annoyed me but I also know we talked and laughed a lot! She was 14 years younger than me and would come with me to my son’s second and third-grade concerts that were held during the school day.
After I left, we lost touch. I then discovered she and her husband bought a house in the same town I was in less than a 1/2 mile from mine! We reconnected again and after her youngest child was in pre-school, she came to work for us. It was another case of a lot of talking, and not always a lot of work getting done! But I really enjoyed her company and I felt like I was the older voice she sometimes needed to hear (not that she ever took my advice!).
But eventually, we needed full-time help and she couldn’t give me that so we had to part ways. It was probably best for her because she got a job in the school system and was able to have summers and vacation time off to be with her kids.
We didn’t stay in touch very much. We were Facebook friends but that is pretty superficial. I know she was happy at the school as a paraprofessional for kindergarten and she was planning on getting her masters in special education. She loved her family so much and would do anything for her kids.
I was alerted to her death on Monday evening because a few of my friends are also in the school system. When the system-wide email went out, one friend checked and saw I was friends with her and messaged me. I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind since.
It’s not that I haven’t had friends or relatives die at a young age, but I don’t think I’ve experienced this suddenness before and it’s unsettling. It seems ridiculous to even think “oh she’s looking over them now” because she should be HERE with them. I have no words for comfort. I just keep praying for her husband and children, her mother and brother, and her best friend who has been a constant presence in her and her family’s lives. That’s all I can do.
Thoughts From The Passenger Seat 