I cannot express how much I miss you. I should have written this long ago, but things were chaotic. The blog was down, the blog was up, no, wait, it was down and I was drowning in homework. I started this post quite a while ago, time marker after marker passed and I would add a bit to it. Her birthday, the setting of the headstone, the 1 year anniversary of her death and I could never quite hit the publish button.

So, I decided that this would be posted on your birthday in 2022. I didn’t hit Publish then. I am sad that we didn’t get to do our birthday lunch this year. While we weren’t able to visit hardly at all during the pandemic, I will always be grateful that we did get to do our birthday lunch in 2021. I will always cherish the time we had together. There was an abundance of laughter.

I mentioned that my uncle passed in September of last year. A victim of the pandemic. He needed hospital care but the hospital nearby couldn’t take him and by the time Ginger got him to the next one, it was too late.

David, the kids, and I went to his house to help Ginger clean up in October. At this time, one of my dearest friends and partner in knitting crime, Kirsten, was in the hospital. She had Covid and was fighting for her life. Due to medical issues, she was immuno-compromised and lost the battle. I couldn’t go to see her in the hospital and our only way to check on her progress was through social media. I hadn’t been on social media in so long, but now I was glued to it. I was half way to Bakersfield when I got the message that she had passed. I broke down in the middle of a rest stop bathroom.

I kept busy at my uncle’s house trying to keep the grief at bay, but things kept popping up that reminded me of her. The biggest one was while I was telling my cousin about how Kit and I would meet for lunch in between our birthdays. I hadn’t seen Kit much during the pandemic, even though we were both vaccinated, I was terrified of exposing her to whatever germs were flying around a college campus full of 18 – 22 year olds that don’t know how to wash their hands. We did manage to meet for our birthday lunch and that was, I believe that last time I saw her. While telling Ginger this, I discovered that Ginger has the same birthday as Kit. I sobbed at the dinner table.

I was fortunate enough to make it home in time for her funeral and the tributes to her were lovely. The tables around the chapel were filled with displays of her gorgeous knitting and spinning. In the weeks after she passed I was obsessively spinning almost every day. I filled every one of my spindles and now I somehow have to find the time to ply it all together and make something.

Kit was unfailingly kind. At her funeral, her family told stories of how Kit felt like she never fit in. She fit into my life perfectly. She was an unwavering example of the teachings of the gospel and I could always depend on her for wise and comforting words. We seemed to have a lot in common with books and music. We got tired during outings at the same time. With all that was going on with my heath, this was huge.

I know I had to have met her before 2013, but that’s the first picture I find of her is in 2013 at knit night. I miss being able to meet her for waffles, tea, and knitting.

We had a similar snarky sense of humor and our visits were always full of knitting and laughter. We laughed so much it hurt and now it hurts so much to go forward without her. Even now I can hear her saying “pull on your big girl panties and get on with it. You know where I am and that we’ll meet again.”

On October 13, 2021, the world lost one of its best people and I lost one of my best friends. God Speed, great lady, heaven has received another angel. Keep an eye on me please, I’ll get into so much trouble without you around.

Almost a year later while I was working on a shawl for Chynna’s wedding, I could feel her with me cheering me on. As I attended Chynna’s reception in the same place we held Danica’s, I could almost see Kit as she was then. There are so many places I look around and see good memories of Kit.

Love you, girlfriend.