A friend

Lots of stress these days. My back has been in knots for almost two months. One of the many things we're struggling with is our friend Boonie's diagnosis of a malignant brain tumour in mid-January. The past year had been awful and hard for his family all ready. Just today, his wife's dad died from cancer. Their daughter is only three years old. It's crushing.

Every single day I think about what they're going through. And what is to come. In the week before Boonie was rushed to the hospital, Chris said he wasn't looking well so I sent him lunch with Chris. In my head I'd been planning other lunches he might like that I could send along so that would be one less thing for him to worry about... It all shoots me back exactly eleven years ago because it's exactly the same thing at exactly the same time of year except my dad was 53 and Boonie is only 40. I have an over-abundance of empathy.

We met Boonie in about 2000 after a Unisource event. Chris started working with him at FCC in 2003, always just a few feet from each other for the last ten years. He is the most easy-going, jovial guy you could meet.

I swear the thing I miss most these days is having Chris come home and tell me what he and Boonie talked about that day. The loss Chris is feeling is obviously much more.

Feeling helpless, I made him my first adult-sized quilt. The kids tried it out and it looks like it will work. Those hospitals can be cold.