it is something, to lose a friend.  

yesterday at the meeting someone came into the room with a report that a friend of mine had passed.  i refuted it on the grounds that the way the individual told it to me was way off-key, and i could find no verification of it.  but something in me knew.  

i'd seen this friend last month, she came to the wednesday noon meeting, she had just passed 19 years.  there was a gravity around her, so heavy you could feel that there was a crash coming.  she spoke of her absence, of the burden of the constant need for oxygen.  she spoke of how she didn't like to come to the meetings because she was always late now, because she couldn't move without coming up short of breath.  i told her she was our honored guest, and that she should get there whenever she wanted to.  

she also spoke about her death, saying that she wanted us to get ready for it.  i didn't take it seriously.  i knew she was a fighter.  what i didn't know was how tired she was.   

her name was Cheryl Saunders, and she was my friend, though she could be an abrasive person sometimes.  i am sorry that she chose to check out.  

i don't want to write on anything else today, i don't think.  i am grateful to Jehovah for the day.