....

Angel and I were 11 years old when we met at a mutual friend's birthday party in the middle of the summer. We hit it off, but didn't see one another again until the first day of school. I was in the middle of a crowded hallway, amidst a sea of unrecognizable faces, when all of a sudden I saw Angel pop up over everyone else, meet my eyes, and yell, "Hey, I know you!" And the rest, as they say, is history.

I remember going to her house when we were younger, and her sisters had matching bob haircuts and her mom drove a giant yellow Cadillac. Her brother was barely a toddler. I remember finding out that her mom was in college, studying to be a nurse. I remember being so impressed by that, because she was the first mom I knew who was in college, and I couldn't believe she'd been out of school for so long and had the guts to go back. And I could see how hard she worked, while still taking care of four kids. That was unfathomable to me at that age. When she started working at U of M, I used to wonder, "Now if I have a baby, would it be feasible for someone to drive me all the way to Ann Arbor to deliver it?"

I remember their old cat, Kermit, who her mom was convinced was a boy. We kept telling her, "Um, I think Kermit's pregnant." And I think up until the kittens were actually born and looking at her, her mom would answer each pregnancy assertion with, "No, he's not, he just ate a rabbit."

Kermit birthed many litters and one of the kittens from those litters birthed my cat, Knuckles. Angel's brother wanted to keep Knuckles because he looked different than every other cat in the litter, but Angel's mom insisted that I take him home, because she knew he'd lose interest in the cat before I would.

I remember family vacations, and being invited along and taken to beautiful cabins in Hocking Hills, and fed delicious food. I remember getting in trouble in high school, and never being judged by her, always being accepted...

When Angel moved to California, there was an ice storm back here in Michigan. I lived in an apartment with well water and we had no power, but on day 2, I had to go back to work and desperately needed a shower. I called Angel's mom and she said, "Yup, we have power, come on over!" Without Angel even on the same coast, she welcomed me over to intrude on her morning in a house full of people who I'm sure also needed the bathroom.

When she got sick, and Angel would visit, she would still be kind and generous, never letting on that she was exhausted, and in pain. I remember going to her house last summer, and even though everyone kept telling her that she didn't need to, she would ride around on a golf cart and pick the vegetables that had grown on the farm. Then she insisted that I take a carload of them home, and come back whenever I wanted more. I kept meaning to make zuccini bread out of the giant zuccini she gave me, but never quite got around to it...

And even in her last weeks, I remember sitting on a stool in her room, laughing about her dogs with her and shaking our heads at each other over sibling rivalry happening in the other room. Always smiling, even then...

Thank you for all of your kindness and generosity over all of these years, Tina. The world is a worse place without you in it.