A Joyous Season

In Loving Memory of a Friend

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Some people are in our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. The season of this friend was filled with adventures of every kind. We laughed, we looked out for one another, and had each other’s backs when life dished out trust falls. I only knew Chloe for a little more than a decade, but it felt like a lifetime.

She was one of the most irascible and difficult friends I have ever had. When her ego got on a roll, it rocked! And yet, her heart was pure. She found joy in the smallest things, like excavating a new shoot to add to her collection of plants, or pleading with the groundskeepers on a developing property in the Yucatan to bring in “that pretty rock” that turned out to be a boulder weighing a ton. She grinned and clapped her hands while they grumbled, offering them sweets when the job was done. Such was her nature.

My friend left this incarnation during the first week of June. I only just found out, though she had been showing up in meditation and in dreams for some time. I had been attempting to continue our connection via phone, text, and email for the past two years to no avail. I knew her family had moved her into a care facility, but that was all I knew. Dementia took her in the end, as had seemed to be inevitable. A strong…