Friends

I just learned today that a friend of mine from back in junior high, extending through senior high, passed away. We got back into touch over 10 years ago when we were both teaching at the same middle school. It ended up that we lived in the same apartment building; I was on the third floor, she was on the first, and there was this evil wench living between us who liked to play music so loud it shook my floor and her dining room light fixture.

Time passed. She was in my wedding, I sang at hers. I moved out of state, she moved to another city. I moved back, and we met a few times sometimes with kids, sometimes without.

She'd suffered from breast cancer for years, and it had metastasized (or however that's spelled -- I'm so not looking things up tonight). Still, I thought she'd survive. I didn't keep in contact like I should. After all, she was going to be okay. There was always another chance for a lunch date, another time to write an e-mail, another day to make a phone call...

But there's not. There's no more time.

I know she now knows why I was so distracted -- or at least I selfishly comfort myself by believing so. But that doesn't change the fact that I let her down, even if she didn't miss my presence with all the other friends and family at her side.

That's on me.