Thank You For Giving A Friend

Yesterday Rue Maclanahan died. She'd had some surgery and some complications and she finally let go quite early in the morning according to all reports. I liked the Golden Girls and all but I wasn't  loyal fan or anything. Still this made me deeply sad.

You see, Ms. Maclanahan was a friend and colleague of D. Jay Bradley and I still miss Jay. At his memorial, nearly three years ago, Maclanahan performed a song from a musical that she and Jay had been working on for a couple of years. She informally invited all of us to see the completed production when she'd managed to whip it into shape in his honor. I guess I didn't realize how much I was counting on seeing that one last little piece of Jay's legacy. Knowing that it won't happen now was kind of a punch in the gut.

Then, early in the afternoon, I got an e-mail. Someone else, someone I've never met before, had a similar reaction to the news of Maclanahan's passing, googled Jay, found my obituary post and decided to reach out to me since we'd experienced a similar loss. This actually happens every so often. Someone commented on that post a few months ago and I've been meaning to address is ever since but haven't gotten to it. I still don't really know what to say. Yesterday's person and I exchanged e-mails all afternoon, though. It was great to reminisce about someone we both loved and to lighten the load on a day that gave us an unexpected jolt of emotion. Not the good kind.

In closing one of his e-mails my new friend massaged a line by Terry Pratchett, "I'm not quite sure what thought scares me more: that there's a heaven where Jay and Rue are performing together, or that there isn't..."

I agree but, in the right light, that means I might get to see their project anyway.