




After my mom died, she gave me a lot of leeway. She knew that I would need a lot of time to figure everything out and I needed to do it at my pace. She understood that I process things different than she does. But 9 months later, I was still trapped in my own headspace, and she bluntly but with kindness said: "ok madeline. it's time to come back to work." And I knew it wasn't because she needed me as an employee, but because it was just time to get out of my own head.

She had wanderlust more than anyone I knew. She used to tell me stories about growing up in New Zealand, her maori 'family', living and working on a kibbutz in Israel, working in the south, traveling through Europe. When she felt the desire to travel to Singapore and Bali, she asked me to go with her. I couldn't refuse.




After selling her business, she and her family moved to Florida because there were more programs available there for her kids. After they finished high school, she traveled a lot more. I would enjoy seeing her photos from all over the world. She was spending a lot of time in Israel again. Last month she was hiking through the sandy deserts in Jordan. The sand in the air as well as smoke from fires in Slovenia, aggravated her asthma enough for her to go to the ER. She started posting snarky photos from the hospital. Making fun of her bruises, joking around about being transferred to ICU. Showing photos of a dragon she bought for her son with an oxygen mask on, saying "uh oh, it's not looking very good". Unfortunately, it was a lot worse than anyone thought. Especially since she was still posting just hours before she passed away. And still being sassy...
3 comments:
I'm so sorry for your loss. It's very rare to have such a close relationship with your boss and you're very lucky to have it. Losing a friend is tough, again I'm so sorry.
She certainly lived life to the max.... I'm sorry you lost your friend and travelling companion. The Bali pictures are lovely.
that is a beautiful story and a sad ending. Thank you for sharing it.
Post a Comment