Tribute to a Dear Friend

Today I attended the memorial service for my dear friend of 40 years, C. Her death is a huge loss for me and for so many of her family and friends, as was evidenced by the beautiful and heartfelt tributes and stories at the memorial service. I write about her here today because she was one of my best "reading friends" (among the many wonderful aspects of our friendship); I wrote here about her, and the love for books that we shared, on 2/16/10. She was also kind enough to contribute, at my invitation, two illuminating guest blogs, one on re-reading favorite books (on 10/17/10) and one on her love of Japan and haiku (on 10/18/10). In addition, she was very supportive of this blog, not only reading it regularly and sending encouraging comments, but also recommending it to her many friends. Over the 40 years of our friendship, we mostly lived on different coasts, but were always in close contact, with visits, letters, emails, and phone calls flowing back and forth across the country. We often talked about books, recommended books to each other, and gave each other books. Just a few days ago, I thought about a certain book: "Oh, C. would like this book...I have to tell her about it," and then sadly remembered that I can no longer do so. She was a very special person -- brilliant, high-achieving, kind, caring, talented, artistic, well-traveled, and more -- and a great friend. I miss her -- and will continue to miss her -- more than I can say.