A gift from a friend

Today's bow is one of my plainer ones, black satin with a big fake pearl in the center. 

As usual, the story behind it makes it special.  Up until about a year ago, I had a friend named Karen.  Karen was a single mother and had worked as a janitor at the school, so she had no end of funny stories.  We enjoyed her company so much at the library that we'd pull a chair behind our workstations and let her sit.  There we'd talk and cut up until closing time.  If other patrons came in we'd invite them to join the fun.  Unprofessional?  Maybe, but we all enjoyed it.

Karen was crafty and good in the kitchen, and every so often she'd surprise us with homemade cookies or a knickknack for the library or something like that.  One day she came in with this bow and another nice clip in her hands.  "My hair is too short for these, and I know you like hair do-dads," she said.  Oh, did I have a big smile on my face that day!

Karen is sadly no longer with us, and she hasn't been gone a year yet so her death still stings.  It started in June, not too long after my mother had to have her gallbladder out.  Karen was sitting with Coworker A and me, and she hugged her stomach and said "I'm not feeling well.  My stomach has been bothering me."  That was the last time I saw her.  The pain escalated within the week, and before the month was over Karen had been diagnosed with stomach and colon cancer.  She was on hospice by August and dead by September.  I regret not going to say goodbye, but Coworker A told me I was better off.  "She wasn't the same person we knew and loved," she said.  But I still miss my Karen, and I treasure the gifts and the memories. 

Love,
RagingMoon1987 

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