I received tragic news this week. My best friend from law school passed away from breast cancer. 🕊️
She was 41, has two young girls, a loving partner, two sisters, doting parents, and countless friends.
How can life be so beautiful and yet so cruel at the same time?
Christine and I lived together during our LL.M. in Washington DC. Christine was funny, reflective, a deep thinker, full of life and full of surprises. We were joined at the hip - wherever she went, I went, and vice versa. We had both decided to be human rights advocates and debated this at length - she was more convinced in the power of the State, I was more convinced in the power of the private sector. It turns out in hindsight, we were both right.
We studied together, we went dancing together, we discovered new places together, we volunteered for human rights activities together, we graduated together. 🎓 If we were apart for a weekend, we’d need to go to bed late on the Monday evening to catch up on everything we had missed in each other’s lives. ‘De-brief dans ta chambre ou la mienne?’ (Catch up in your room or mine?) We were endlessly talking about our future, what we would make of it, how we would seek to shape the world - while being consistently silly and light-hearted. I coined the term for our special relationship: ‘ramie’ - roomie & amie (friend) - which stuck and that’s how we called each other ever since.
Then life happened. 🕰️ She moved back to France, I stayed in the U.S. We both were on our journeys - personally and professionally. We caught up whenever I returned to Paris - she was always the first person I called. But our every evening catch-ups turned into once-a-year catch-ups. And then she moved away from Paris three years ago, life got really busy, and we lost touch… I so deeply regret this happening. If I could have it any other way, I would.
So I am grieving the loss of a beautiful, kind and joyful soul. The loss of my best friend from youth. The loss of a friendship we never got to fully live. The loss of an age of innocence; freedom and endless opportunity. And of course, this pales in comparison to the grief of her family members whose lives are forever altered in the wake of this tragedy.
Life is so very short. None of us know how long we have on this planet. I hope you take time this summer to live life to the fullest. To laugh, to cry, to be silly, to be serious, to read, and to reflect. And to love. Because without connection, what are we? 💫
We’ll be back in your Inbox in September.
With love ❤️,
Anna
