On Sunday, my parents are throwing us an engagement party on Long Island. There are over 50 people coming, and I know it’s going to be a great time. I’m excited to see friends from almost every different part of our lives, and to finally introduce people who have heard a lot about each other, but somehow never met. There will even be a contingent of family friends from the town where I grew up in Massachusetts, and I’m so touched that they’re all making the trek. This party will be a welcome celebration, the first we’ve had in far too long.
Sunday is also August 15th, which means it will mark the two year anniversary of the day my friend Max passed away. I remember exactly where I was when my dad called to give me the news. I was in Cleveland, Ohio with my mom, going through my grandma’s things. She had passed away only a month before. Max and I weren’t best friends. We didn’t see each other every day, and we hadn’t known each other since elementary school. We were only friends for about seven years, but in those years he came to mean a lot to me. I only wish I had told him more often, because I can’t remember the last time I did. Max was the inspiration behind the Appreciation Revolution, and every day I try to honor his memory by appreciating the people and things I am lucky enough to have in my life.
It’s fitting and ironic, happy and sad, that this party falls on the anniversary of Max’s death. If he were still around, chances are that he would have been there to share in our joy. So, I’m going to have a great time on Sunday with friends and family, celebrating the incredible happiness that Rob has brought into my life. I’ll be thinking about Max too, as I do most days, and how I wish he was here. But, I know he would remind me (in the words of one of the most beautiful songs about losing a friend) ”Don’t cry….Keep a picture of me in your mind. You’ve got so many reasons to smile.”
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