A Friend

...huge sigh...

We received a sad phone call last night that our friend Holly had passed away.
It was one of those "what?!" moments.
An out of the blue, without reason, surreal thing.
It makes you think really hard about your existence on this planet.
You never know what's coming.

I met Holly in 1999.
She was a great friend to Chad and I.
We spent many holidays together when we lived in Chicago.
She was at our wedding shower and later at our baby shower.
She kept in touch with our family as it grew and as it moved away.
She's been a thoughtful friend to us since Zoe's diagnosis.
Sending cards and gifts.
She has such a generous heart.
We are always excited to get her Christmas card every year because she sends THE BEST Christmas cards!
I'm sad.
And we are all confused.
"She seemed fine at work Monday", I was told by my friend Z who works with Holly.
We have been living with a cancer diagnosis for the last two years and have dealt with the passing of our friend Jake this past February.
And the hits just keep on coming.

Holly gave Zoe a stuffed blue cat with polka dots when she was born.
We have always called the cat Holly.
Zoe has clung to her cat Holly since day one of her leukemia diagnosis.
She takes Holly to Camp COCO.

Holly, our friend, may be gone now but her spirit will forever live on in Zoe's Holly that sits on her bed everyday.
Goodbye friend.
Goodbye.