Here she is! My mom's best friend Annette, has flown in to Colorado, to spend time with my mom, and help our family cope with all the new changes that 2008 will bring. Annette really is an angel, disguised in a human's body! Annette was there to help my mom battle cancer 20 years ago. Since I am an only child, she was there to help me throw a 25th wedding anniversary party for my parents, when I was too young to know how to successfully pull off such a feat. She really couldn't enjoy the party, because she was quietly helping in the kitchen the whole night. She helped me in high school choose a "just right" outfit for Homecoming, and invited our family into her home for meals, friendship, and holidays. She missed the beginning of our wedding, not because she was late, but because she was in the back helping organize the wedding party. She and her husband Fred, supported my mom and I through every step of planning my dad's funeral, and memorial when he passed away last year. And now, here she is, again, supporting us, as her best friend begins treatment for stage 4 brain cancer...Annette is always, "there" right when you need her, and you never need to ask. She arrives to help, nurture, and take care of any possible need. How can we ever thank her for her willingness to step in when life is at it's best, and when it is at it's worst? That's the thing about Annette, she doesn't want thanks or acknowledgement, she just wants to be "there." And that is why I have to type this entry at midnight, so she can remain an angel, hidden under the name of, "FRIEND!"
