the end of a 50 plus year friendship

Today I said goodbye to my mom's best friend, Lucie, who I've known ever since I was born.

Lucie was always the strongest and most stubborn person I'd ever met, and she was a bit of a role model for me growing up. She became a dentist at a time when no women actually did that. She was single for most of her life in a time when that was unheard of too, only marrying when she was in her 40s (in her words, before she met her husband, "all of the men were stupid"). She travelled all over the world, sending postcards relaying the strangest tales of adventure and fun. And she loved to tell stories about taking her incapacitated father to strip shows, knowing it was the only time he was happy. It was hard to see someone who never compromised on anything throughout all of her life finally give in for the last time, to cancer.

My mother and Lucie shared an incredible friendship for over 50 years. This makes me sad for my mom, since I know it has to be very hard to say goodbye. But it also makes me strangely sentimental. I wonder if I'll ever be able to look back on my life and remember friendships like theirs, ones that seem to last forever.

A sentimental post, I know. Perhaps I'll get my edge back in the morning.


RainyBows