R.I.P. Whitney

Whitney. Your obituary, though nice, insufficiently expresses all the great things about you. Here's what I will miss.

I will miss photocopying the NY Times crossword puzzle for you every day, and then meeting up in the afternoon to see which answers we were missing. I will miss how we'd be unable to get any additional letters, but then you'd invariably call me or come to my desk 2 minutes later with some flash of brilliance that occurred to you after I left.

I will miss going to the gym with you at lunch. I will miss getting to teach you all the things my trainer showed me that morning, and you teaching me all the things your trainer showed you. I will miss having a kindred spirit that both hated and loved working out at the same time. I will miss lying outside on the pavement and throwing a ten pound ball around and having all the people eating lunch look at us like we're crazy, and then just laughing about it. I will miss your crazy lunges and ridiculously long wall sits. You kicked serious ass.

I will miss gossiping about family drama, our clothes and shoes, what we cooked for dinner last night. (Speaking of clothes, btw, you were the only person I knew who could pull off those adorable flowered headbands without looking completely twee!) No matter what I brought up in conversation, you always had something to say, something to contribute. I loved your laugh, and loved to make you laugh, and appreciated it with genuine pleasure every time you told me I was funny!

I will miss bonding over photography and other artistic endeavors. I loved that we shared that passion. I'm sad that you never got a chance to show me any of your art - I really looked forward to seeing it. I hope wherever you are is as beautiful as the beauty your passion for art probably inspired in life.

I will miss having such a strong, amazing woman around. I still can't believe that story about how you had to swim a mile with a gaping head wound to possibly save your own life after your sailing students caused you to get in the head with a boom. I am in awe of how you cared for your brilliant yet savant sister. Your ability to stay calm and silent in an argument and wait for the other person to talk themselves into a hole was uncanny.

I am terribly sad that our connections did not have the chance to blossom into what would surely have been a long and fulfilling friendship. I will miss you and I will not forget you. You were taken too soon.

Rest in peace.