What Losing a Friend Taught Me About Finding Happiness
Amid a stream of silly memes , festive fall photos and quotes inspiring happiness, my friend announced she was dying. Of course, she hadn’t intended for such a monumental statement to show up on our social media feeds in such a casual way on an ordinary October day. But she was in pain and suddenly had very little time and very many people to break the news to. “Doctors are saying I have one to two weeks left, at best,” her post read. I initially blamed my bleary eyes for the wretched words on the screen; I was working late, so surely I’d just misread her post. How could a woman so full of life and laughter be so close to death? A life well lived Tracy lived big and loved fiercely. She had a soft heart, strong character and a wicked sense of humor—fitting, considering her New England roots and time spent in Hawaii, her chosen home for many years. She was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer in 2018. And while she occasionally shared updates about her (numerous and painful) treatme