As April 15 approaches, I run the same column I do every year in memory of the very best friend I ever had. This year I’m running my letter to her in shortened form because there is an update…
Dear Andrea,
On April 15, 2026, it will be fifty-one years since I’ve seen you.
No one knows exactly what happened that morning. Was your radio too loud? Were your reflexes too slow? It was obvious from the TV news coverage which showed your smashed-up car that you never had much of a chance against the onrushing train when you crossed the railroad tracks.
You were a young wife. And you were a young mother. And you had your whole life ahead of you. Or so we thought.
Fifty-one years…your husband now too has passed away – lying beside you in the cemetery. Your babies are grown…one is a lawyer and one is in health care services. And now each one of your boys have spouses and children of their own.
You would have been such a delightful and devoted grandma.
And guess what, dear Andrea? Now you have that chance…
On a balmy morning on Biscayne Bay in Miami last summer, a barge collides with a sailboat carrying a group of five girls and their 19-year-old sailing instructor. Three girls are killed. One of them is your granddaughter Ari – named after you, my dear.
Months later, speaking with your son (Ari’s father), he describes his daughter to me:
Ari was the smile when you couldn’t find joy; she was the icebreaker when the rest of us were at an impasse; she was our solace when we were frustrated parents of teenagers. She was our glue, our reset button. Her spirit and energy made the worst of times feel ok.
What your son didn’t realize, my dear Andrea, was that in describing Ari, he was also describing YOU.
May you both rest in eternal peace…together.
Keep Preserving Your Bloom,
JEAN JACKET OF THE WEEK
If you are going to any high school reunions over the next couple of months, take along a one-of-a-kind Funky Creation and dazzle your past schoolmates.
Here are two of my besties – twins – Emily and Barbara.
We are looking good, feeling good and cherishing all those schooldays memories. It’s pretty priceless‼️‼️