I met Kathy for the first time on a hot August day in Key West, Florida in 1965. I heard her laugh from off in the distance as I approached the high school stadium. It was a warm and approachable introduction for me before I ever saw her face. She was there gathering together new recruits for the Pep Club. She was the Captain of the club and as I had only recently moved there myself, decided this was a way to meet some new people and perhaps find some new friends. Hearing the laughter in her voice and then seeing the buoyancy she had as she attacked her task immediately made me feel less lonely and more optimistic about my new home.

And that was the beginning of a friendship that has, over the many years and the many miles that most often separated us, never faltered. It was not something we planned or even expected since we were both Navy brats and had spent our lives moving from place to place and most often, leaving good friends and good memories behind us only to begin again wherever we found ourselves.

But over the years, mostly by letter, then by email, sometimes by phone and on a few special occasions when we were able to visit each other in person, we have shared our loves, our marriages, the births of our children, the joys and difficulties of parenting, the losses we each have had and then more of the joys of our grandchildren and great grandchildren blessing our lives.

Somehow to our amazement we both got older and maybe a bit wiser but somehow always seem to still value and be grateful for our friendship. We were very different people both in looks and temperament but as she told me in her last months, it never mattered as we just fit together like yin and yang.

In all the years since that first meeting, I do not think I have ever met a less judgmental or more unconditionally loving person.  She was definitely part of my support system in this lifetime and I have not quite figured out how I will manage as well without her being only an email or a phone call away. Yet somehow I know, deep in my heart, that she will be part of the arsenal of angels watching out over us all as I have no doubt she is one in a million that earned her wings while she was still with us.

And one day, when it is my time to follow her, I am sure we will meet and take up our friendship just where we left off as we always did. Until then I hope my dear friend will rest in as much peace as she needs-and then find some fun and mischief to keep her busy until we can do that together again.