Those Seeking Beauty, Will Find It
Our circle lost a friend recently and she has been a constant on my mind ever since. Our circle of friends met in grammar school where we reigned on top until we entered high school where we immediately sunk back to the bottom as freshmen. We were lucky though, we were tight nit, close as could be friends so our circle and our entry into high school had a rhythm and a confidence built in.
Like any public high school ours was large and unruly and we got away with a lot. To be honest I loved high school but I didn't learn much. It was the 80's and we'd grown up as latchkey kids so by high school we were pretty self-sufficient.
We met our new friend in high school. She was tall and beautiful with straight red hair in a side part that fell perfectly across her freckled face. She wore ties and suit jackets and she walked across a room with a confidence that seemed effortless. She was smart and worldly - she'd lived in other countries before coming to Chicago and she could speak up easily and voice her opinion where most teenagers were just trying to fit in. I remember wanting to be more like her.
Our circle spent a lot of time together, extended lunches when we couldn't be bothered to return to school, impromptu parties when parents were away, and in local bars with fake ID's. Life was good. After high school some of us drifted apart but we'd reconnect at holidays and shift right back into that ease of long-time friends.
I last saw our friend decades ago at a friend's wedding. I tried to connect with her when we moved to Los Angles in 2012 but it never happened. With the ease of social media I could see that she had married her college sweetheart, had two beautiful girls and built a thriving business based on her creativity and talent. She seemed so happy and content.
Her loss is hard to wrap our heads around. When we gathered at her home with her family, and met her beautiful girls all I kept thinking was that she should be here, sitting with us in her garden. Of course there's a guilt I carry for not staying in touch and for not trying harder to connect. Hindsight being what it is, I'm trying to remember that our friend would be so pragmatic about it all - she'd wave her hand, fluffing us off, and smile.
As we were leaving her home her family offered us one of her business card with her tagline, Those Seeking Beauty, Will Find It. I smiled when I read the tagline - smart and to the point, just like our friend.
