Pink Roses

When Chelle was just a little girl, she ran through her yard singing out “Andrea! Andrea!” She said it was her favorite name.

We lived hours apart and in different states. It wasn’t until my father was transferred to the town where she lived that we finally met. It was the fall of 1977, the beginning of my junior year in high school and her sophomore year. Once we met that was the beginning of our beautiful friendship. She was excited that her Andrea turned out to be me, and I felt honored to be a part of her childhood story.

We got married a year apart and then we began our families together. Our lives were very intertwined. We moved through the years with difficult parents and husbands, childhood illnesses, shared recipes, school days, silly kids, teenage antics, so much laughter, our many phone calls and treasured weekends away, marriages, divorce….and the death of a child. We lived life fully and together.

Chelle passed away suddenly and quietly in her sleep on November 1, 2016, at 54 years old. I know she wasn’t ready to leave. She would have wanted closure for us who were left behind. She knew first hand the pain of not having closure with the tragic death of her son. Plus, we were both on cloud nine that we were finally going to be grandmas together. She was not ready to go. But we just never know when our time here ends, do we?

“Your wings were ready, but my heart was not.”

Pink roses are on my table in a birthday celebration of the life of my beautiful Chelle, and with gratefulness for the little girl who called me here to be her friend. 🌷🌷

Andi