Remnants of a Friendship...Box #3

The Remnants of Box #3

There is one last box to go. The first thing I see is a lime green bow that came off a gift, not sure which one. I just save every bit of minutia. 

Under the bow is a Happy Birthday Sister card with a personal handwritten note. More of the same words of appreciation and affection. It just underscores how different that last year was between us. 

Then there are two programs from her graduation, that I attended in May 2004. This was the one I left my radiation session and went to the airport to fly down to see. I must have brought them home with me as a remembrance of the occasion.

There is a little note she sent referring to a package she took too long to send.

Here is small binder, from her church Bible study group, that we were going to go through together.

I found a small book, "Joys of Friendship, A Celebration of Girlfriends," that Marie sent me. It’s full of sayings like, “how can you ever be done talking with such a good friend?”

More birthday cards filled with more notes.

Two picture albums, one of her trip here at Christmas with her daughter and my family, the other of my trip to Texas with her and her family. 

A note that came with flowers from 1-800-flowers for my birthday and a cardboard gold bow from a box of Russell Stovers chocolates that she sent.

Restaurant menus from a French restaurant we dined at in Manhattan.

And finally, an envelope containing a long email from Marie, written in French, from September 2002 that I had printed out. Also in there is a copy of a story written by a French author, that was probably a school assignment that we may have worked on together. The email was a copy of the paper she had written on the story and was handing in. She remembered I wanted to see the original story and had made a copy to send to me.

Honestly I thought I had saved a lot more than this, even with the three boxes. Now it’s time to dispose of most of this. I still don’t know how to get rid of the notes and cards and pictures. They represent a significant part of my life and time. I guess I will get rid of what I can, and wait on the rest.

Tomorrow I will post an addendum to it all, of the last bit of communication we had after the fact. I think that will be the last of it. I know I probably forgot a lot, but it feels good to get this all out. Thank you to those who took the time to read, to comment, and to understand…something Marie never bothered to do.