My dear friend! Janice and I met in high school and shared a knack for drama. While she loved and went on to major in English, I loved Biology and specialized in the field of science. She was from a family of two and her brother was quite a bit older than her. I am the oldest of nine with the youngest 17 years my junior. She lived in a quiet apartment with her mother, and I lived in a noisy house with both parents. She lived in the city and I lived in the country. Our diversity of backgrounds was a kind of cement for our friendship. 

She introduced me to Trinity College, and we took her to Vermont for our first college visit. In the middle of January – to Vermont! It was the first trip that I had ever taken with my parents at the age of 17. Janice was one of my bridesmaids over 50 years ago. We both graduated from Trinity College in Burlington Vermont. I stayed in Vermont; she returned to Connecticut to teach. 

As often happens, our contact time decreased. However, we remained in touch with one another over the mail ways and sporadic summer meetings. She loved to hear the news of my large diverse family and learn of their activities. I made sure that she received the family newsletters which we were publishing on a frequent basis before Facebook. 

 
She met and married a fine man and adopted two sons whom she loved without limit. She lived in a beautiful house in Connecticut for many years. She was a revered English teacher in a local school. 

Once we were both in Florida, we managed to visit and renewed the warm friendship we had once shared, although again on a long-distance basis. When efforts to arrange a get together last year fell through with little explanation and her birthday card was returned this year as undeliverable, I knew that there was some dire reason. 

 
I found out about her death in a Facebook post from her son’s mother-in-law in which she had tagged Jan’s name. My sorrow at learning of this loss for all who knew Jan and in such an impersonal way is not able to be expressed in words. My guilt at not making more of an effort to contact her still haunts me. 

She was a kind, funny, smart, sharp, witty, silly, lovely, challenging (too many more adjectives) person! She was Winnie the Pooh! She cared; she was brave; she was honest and true. She was a loving mother and devoted wife. She is our loss. There will always be a gap that I cannot fill now that she is in heaven and not on earth. 

I will again have to practice acceptance about not knowing about her illness, about reading of her death on Facebook. I remind myself that this is not about me. It is about the loss of a dear friend, an important person in my life. God has His reasons for why certain events impact our lives. I don’t know that answer today, but some day… 

Go with God, Jan. All the answers will now be revealed. As Rich would say, “Save me a seat.” Love you always, just as God loves you always and unconditionally. 

Terri