Unexpectedly

My dear friend, Debbie doing what she does best!
Here helping Cierra with the final touches.

I really miss those days in Cierra's kitchen altogether.

A baby shower at Brit's Downtown Minneapolis.
My daughter in law Cassandra (expecting) 
on the left, my daughter, Cierra
 and Debbie!

Honestly I consider my long time friend Debbie as my bestie.

Best friends are the people you do

 anything and nothing with 

and still enjoy your time.

They're our unbiological sister/brother.

Debbie and I were both in our twenties when we met. She trained me a job as a savings consultant/personal banker at Midwest Federal Savings and Loan.  I was a divorced mother of a four year old boy (she thought was the most adorable) and she was single and dating the love of her life.  

Our friendship evolved over the years. Even when we didn't work together any longer we still remained good friends and she quickly became very close to my family. She was my partner in adventures (I loved to drive, she didn't) and I always brought up to new experiences and discoveries that she was eager to join too.  All I had to do is ask, do you want to join me? Oh heck yeah, she'd always reply. We've traveled to California, Vegas, Illinois, San Francisco, abroad, day trips to little towns near here.  Even to England where my daughter was interning in London.  Off to England we flew. Just last year we spent a few days seeing the sights of beautiful Duluth and Lake Superior. She loved the fact that she was a native of Minnesota and yet I being a Michigander originally always knew more things and places from here then most Minnesotans. We tried to fill up our book of adventures. Always. 

Of course she was my bridesmaid in my second marriage, and aided and guided me through every baby/marriage showers, baptisms, graduation parties, dance recitals, funerals, many holidays, and far too many family birthdays or gatherings to mention. We told and shared everything between ourselves. When her mother died my father died five months later and every May since 2000 we'd visit both her parents and my father's graves at Fort Snelling.  I'll continue that tradition, only without her now.

So very sadly I will forever miss my dear friend, Debbie. 
 In reality she was an extension of me. 

Last Saturday evening we suddenly lost her during her rehabilitation period.  The unfortunate reason her life went from perfectly normal began with an infection in her foot over a month ago. In the hospital things spiraled downward and sepsis entered. Apparently it never left her and other ills arrived.

Here are just a few moments through the years.
Often Debbie wasn't one for having her photo taken.

Celebrating a happy birthday for my son-in-law
who Debbie thought the world of. She was planning on joining
 me on trip to visit them all this year.

Debbie came for an entire week to a place 59 miles
 from the Canadian border just to be my bridesmaid.

My mother truly liked Debbie too. 

Cierra and Debbie, Deb always teased me that she was Cierra's second mother a title she shared with Aunt Linda!

Debbie was always welcomed at our family gatherings and she made many.

We shared a girl's weekend out! 

Galena, Illinois. Debbie, myself and 
another Debbie also a dear friend from our Midwest Federal Days.

Chatting with a tour guide during our Galena trip.

Dinner in England!

Catching some street entertainment in London.

My daughter captured this photo of us
 running across the street in Folkestone, England.
I have a lifetime of memories from that wonderful England trip!

Here we are at one of our
 Midwest Federal Savings and Loan reunions. 

A gathering at Gary's house.


Debbie was the special kind of person that you felt comfortable with and happy to share time together. A dear and special lady, always filling the room with cheer and my family will miss her just as much as I will.


There are so many ways we miss someone. You'll miss things they did, places and experiences you shared and yet, never forget the one most important thing we share with people we know. We'll miss who we were with them. How much your knowing each other mattered. 

It's not the things in life that are most important, it's the matter within everything. From art on the wall to tears during a movie. Feelings. Appreciating. Lifting spirits. Laughing. Crying. If there's one thing I know that hits right to the center of everything, it's feeling appreciated,
 and letting others know how much you appreciate them.