Exceptional Woman

I remember the first time I met her, my exceptional friend.  I, a nervous grad student embarking on her first true teaching experience, crossing the tiny parking lot of an even tinier high school.  She met me there on a hot summer day, in shorts and a t-shirt to discuss my upcoming student teaching experience.  She was to be my mentor.  She exuded a strength about her and a confidence that I admired immediately.  Yet, I felt instantly comfortable with her and felt drawn to her.

She took me under her wing, granting me freedom in her classroom, guiding me, encouraging, and challenging me.  She never made me feel incompetent (when, of course, I was...) or that she was "better than me" (and trust me, she is!).  She got excited with me for the new ideas I had, which were old hat to her.  She included me in her friendships with other faculty members when she could have pushed me aside to have some peace in her day without that pesky grad student under foot.  When I slept in accidentally, she just laughed and said, "It happens."  She did not judge.   She made me feel like the best teacher in the world at a time when I felt like the biggest fraud of the century.

She wrote a stellar recommendation letter for me, which I didn't end up needing because they hired me at her school the following semester.  Over the past ten years, she has become a dear friend.  We have discovered similarities in our lives that are freakish.  No matter what I am dealing with, she is the one who will listen, give sound advice, and cry a few tears with me. She is eloquent, intelligent, creative, talented, and is wise beyond her years.  She is to many a source of strength.

But today, it is my turn to provide the strength.  For yesterday, she buried her mother.   

So, my exceptional friend, I am here. 

Today, your parents are together again, looking down on the clan (and Lord, there are a ton of you!), proud of all of you.  The grace, wisdom, humility, intelligence, and talent evolved from the love and faith of your parents.  The laughter.  The song.  The food.  Each a stitch in what became each of you.  And while I can only imagine how hard it is to say goodbye to the woman who has loved you beyond measure, she remains with you-in each pumpkin pie you bake, or hem you sew, or song you sing.  She is in how you continue to raise your son, and in how love your husband, and in how you show compassion to a stranger.  She is the reason you are as exceptional as you are.

And as you are blessed to have had her as your mother, so, too, are we blessed to have you as a friend.

Comments

[Martial Arts Mom]

Beautiful. I am lucky to have friends like you, too. We should all treasure our friends.

[Peeveme]

I'm so sad for your friend. My mother is the center of who I am. I can't imagine the world without her in it. But your sentiment is beautiful. Everything that she was is now in her.

[Ann Kimmel]

So, so beautiful. My prayers are with your sweet friend.

[Teresa]

That was incredibly beautiful. It's great to have friends like that and that she has a friend like you.

You're tricky because I thought you were gonna put pictures of yourself up on the last post...terd! Hehe

[Black Belt Mama]

Oh my God, I'm crying here. Beautifully written-a real tribute to a great friend.