this was written on Friday the 13th

Since November 8, 1995 she had been a part of my life. Today she's gone. She was in her late sixties. She was going to retire in September until she had a mild heart attack three weeks ago which lead to the discovery of lung cancer.

I called her the day she was leaving the hospital when the problem was just a heart attack. "And to no one's surprise they found some lung cancer," was part of the last conversation I had with her.

You could hear the news travel throughout the office; it was a wave of "Oh no's" and "You've got to be kidding's."

I delivered to news to one co-worker who spoke to her just the day before. I could hear his heart go heavy as he said "She was my friend." He said it like it was news to me.