| ~ Let's Be Friends ~ |
| One of my most rewarding friendships started with an email. Let me tell you about Colleen... ~ Who ARE You? ~ I was in between boyfriends and was looking for a female friend to hang out with. I did a search of online members who lived nearby. Colleen's birth year (the same as mine) was part of her ID name, so I read her delightful profile and decided to contact her. In my message, I pointed out to Colleen that we had some things in common in addition to being the same age. Thus, we began writing back and forth. We had a bit of a rocky beginning, in a humorous way. While online dating is increasingly popular, it seems to be less common for people to initiate friendships by email. She couldn't help being a little suspicious about my intentions. After trading online messages for a few weeks, Colleen made a couple attempts to arrange for her and I to meet in person. The first time, I was unable to make it there and had to cancel. The next time I agreed to meet her, but it totally slipped my mind and I was a no-show. This really got her wheels turning. ~ Undercover Spy ~ In the back of her mind (unknown to me), Colleen had started to wonder whether I was, in truth, one of her male friends just playing a joke on her. To test me, she offered to introduce me to another friend of hers (also by way of email) who was in a similar dating situation as the one I had described I was in by then. Enter Cheryl. Cheryl and I were each dating someone significantly younger than ourselves. Geography and work schedules kept Cheryl and I from meeting until years later, but we shared a few phone conversations in the meantime. I liked her right away. From her voice, she reminded me of another gal, Lonni, that I knew from work and had become friends with. ~ We Meet at Last ~ Colleen was finally convinced I was not some prankster, and eventually we did meet face to face. It seemed as though we'd known each other forever. Unfortunately, it was just as she was preparing to leave the area. She has since moved away from Indiana, and the very same medium that brought us our friendship then became our only means of staying in touch. Anyone who knows Colleen surely realizes what an amazing person she is. Despite the endless list of hardships she has endured, even in the few years I have known her, she never fails to find a way to make me laugh. She spits in the face of tragedy and somehow manages to produce joy in its stead. She has some very strong and quirky ideas about a few things, but that just enhances her charm. ~ Treasure Hunt ~ You just never know where you may discover the next person who will become special to you. Be sure not to limit yourself to traditional means when it comes to meeting new people. I feel very fortunate to know Colleen. I'm so glad I wrote to her and that she didn't just write me off when I did. Now the bad news. My rare find may become a lost treasure. Colleen discovered, shortly before moving away, that she has ovarian cancer. This is just one of the many trials she has faced with her special brand of bravery and wit. To my surprise, she chose me to be the liason for staying in touch with her many friends and admirers as her condition progresses. It's a bittersweet experience, to be sure, when someone you care about is being pulled away by a threatening illness. It draws you closer together just when you realize you may have to let go of them someday. Every interaction becomes significant. With Colleen, though, every interaction always has been that way. |
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| On July 2, 2004, Colleen's suffering ended. Those of us who loved her must now continue our path on Earth with only our memories of her. ...and Heaven will never be the same. |