‘School of Hard Knocks Remembered 23 Years Later?

Remembering a friend 23 years later in my lifetime of memories and knowing ‘the school of hard knocks phrase since my 20s that was told to me by my PT of my childhood and days of young. Wow, at age 53, my friend passed away from lung and brain cancer, and I believe she never smoked. Her cancer came from breast cancer metastasized to lung and brain cancer after her what had a few years before. I remember going to her fund raiser the family of the Kane and Gagne family held for her. Seeing her for the last time was bittersweet that day. With me being a klutz that day running into chairs and making a lot of noise to bring attention to myself with tons of people who knew and didn’t know me because my bestie MEE and my neighbor GA took us to her fundraiser that one day when I saw her come in and I got excited. I was embarrassed, but Christine knew me inside and outside that she chuckled when I saw her that day. Her family and friends who DID NOT know me that day understood that Christine and I had a special relationship and she watched me grow up since the 2nd grade and she meant the world to me. Now, I didn’t go to her funeral because it was in Michigan and traveling at the time wasn’t easy for me and I hadn’t enough money for an overnight stay at a hotel at that time.

See, after high school and college, and what we call the services in the United States and all over the world today, we are living in the school of hard knocks everyday of our lives. My childhood physical therapist CKG was correct in saying so in my 20s! Oh, some days I miss her more than other days because we got together every year to catch up on our lives, and when she died in October 2002. Here is her obituary I found https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/fitchburg/name/christine-gagne-obituary?id=27879130 just to see if I could find her 23 years later BECAUSE I was just curious. I remember calling her number she had given me and her sister answered the phone. She sounded like Christine so when she answered the phone, I was mistaken and said ‘high Christine.’when I heard her voice. When I heard that Christine died the day before, I was shocked and embarrassed to the core of my being. My heart broke, and I lost my words for a few moments and cried. This sister of hers was a sweetheart like her sister I was talking to. After that phone call,I never called that number again but one time and her husband was not home, but I left a message to let him know I was thinking of him and his family that day and threw away the phone number to never call again. It has been 23 years now. Wow.