Midweek, a late night phone call. A friend is gone. Impossible to believe but true. Sometimes Death comes while you are looking the other way.

This friend was chosen family: loyal, generous, always there. Now she’s not. We saw each other through career struggles, divorce, infertility, so much more. We were to see each other at last next week, when our vaccines settled in.

Now I join the widening circle of friends and colleagues who are shocked and sad. We knew of each other. We are all reeling. If we could get together this one time, what a relief to meet at last, share stories and memories. Instead, another damn Zoom funeral.

What an unkind year.

My friend was an academic who loved politics and justice. I’m an artist who loves stories. At some level we barely understood each other, but she was deeply a friend.