The Beginning

I guess the time has finally arrived. It is time I start writing down my thoughts because you never know when it will be too late. That realization has hit me so hard today because of the events of this morning. Today I lost a great friend. She is the one responsible for introducing me to the man who would become my husband. We have been friends since we started junior high school together.

She married a boy I knew since kindergarten. Her husband grew up in the same little town I did. With only 8 girls and just as many boys in the entire town, we were a close group. Our world expanded when we entered junior high, and then again in high school, gaining friends from neighboring towns. Our graduating class had a total of 98 students.

We went on to college, she and her husband to Logan, and me to Ogden. They set me up with their friend who had entered the mission field. We wrote for 24 months, and married two months after he returned home. The rest is history.

Joy's history stopped today when she was released from her mortal body that had suffered with cancer for several years. She had breast cancer and went through all the chemo and radiation associated with it. She started the masters program with me but didn't get the chance to finish because of her condition.

Then can last year and she was feeling so much better. So she decided to start with the math endorsement classess. We had so much fun in our June class, riding together, going to lunch each day, and just laughing together. On one day we were assigned to find the area of our skin. (I know, a strange assignment.) We discussed how we would draw geometric shapes of body parts and find the area that way. She laughingly said she was minus one cone that the rest of us had to count! We laughed do hard at that! On the last day of class she mentioned that she had been bruising a lot and showed us the bruises on her neck. It looked so bad. She had an appointment the next week with her doctor. She was put in the hospital for tests and found she had leukemia. She was in the hospital for many months, getting ready for a bone marrow transplant that never came. She was able to come home for a few days in the fall, but returned to the hospital again for more treatments. She was able to return home at Thanksgiving to spend the rest of her life surrounded by the people she loves, and who love her.

Joy raised 4 sons and a daughter. Two of her sons have Downs Syndrome, one very severe. Jared (age 31) has been by her side holding her hand all the time. She has been a remarkable lady. She taught school as a special education teacher. The district will never be able to replace her.

I will be eternally grateful for the part she played in my life. I am glad she was able to be released from her pain. She has earned her place in the celestial kingdom.