I am in a Natalie Merchant sort of mood…a dear friend from my childhood has moved on from this earthly world…I have the song ‘River’ in my head, particularly the line “with candles, with flowers…you were one of ours”.  Though time and distance and many other things in life came between us, this has affected me…very much.  She was one of ours.  Maybe it is because I am unable to be there for my best friend who this is hitting much closer to home for…they grew up a few doors down from each other…their parents still live there, in those houses that we all used to play and run and laugh in.  All I keep hearing over and over in my head is her laugh…she had a one-of-a-kind laugh…the kind of laugh that you couldn’t keep from laughing with. 

Ironic that I was digging through my ‘hope chest’ last week and found some of my class pictures from elementary school…my bff’s hubby is in those pictures with me…first grade…I have a child that age, we go waaaaay back.  I happened to have also pulled out the third grade class picture, I don’t really know why…maybe it was for today…there she is, sitting right beside me…both of us not looking at the camera (the geniuses taking those pictures had a bunch of third graders looking straight into the sun)…so strange how you begin on the same path…and then wander off…sometimes those paths cross again, even intertwine…sometimes the paths couldn’t be more different.

Today’s secret revealed…no matter how long it has been, there are those that will always be ‘one of ours’…rest in peace Jennifer.  I am praying for comfort and healing for your family.