I ran into an old friend at the gym the other night on my way to a weightlifting class. We quickly caught up and I asked about a few people we both had known when we had worked together. I was particularly interested in one lady, Cathy, as I had thought about calling her every few months since I had last seen her two and a half years ago. When I asked about her, my old work friend said, “Oh. She’s dead. She died last June.”
I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I had really admired Cathy and even though we hadn’t spoken in a long time, I considered her one of my good friends. How could this have happened and how could I not have known about it?
Because I did not get the chance to say goodbye, I have decided to do it here and send it out into the universe. So, to the best Norwegian knitter and joke teller that I know, I will miss you and your hilarious stories of the Peace Corp and our gabbing sessions over silly TV shows. Thank you Cathy for your warm friendship and for always making me feel like I had a seat at the table. I will miss you.
Lesson Learned
The loss of this good friend caused me to think about others I hadn’t spoken to in a long time. So I picked up the phone yesterday and called one of them. And it was so good to talk to her.
My challenge to you is: Find someone you’ve lost touch with and call them, or email them, or send them a postcard. You’ll be glad you did.
P.S. I looked back to see where I was in my life when Cathy died and turns out, I was doing this. And the funny thing is, Cathy would have gotten a real kick out of that.
