"Best Friends" - 7/16/20

When I think of Irma
I think of compassion
Her face had a way of lighting
You up from within

Effortlessly she made you
At ease easy laughter
Understanding, perspective
Equal parts fun, serious, empathetic

I can see her eyes lit up with joy
Irma had an ability to make
Every person feel like she
Was the most important soul

In need of care, thoughtfulness
This was the gift of hers with which
I was most familiar and Irma was,
Immediately, our extended family

I didn't see her often but virtually
Every time I saw or spoke to my
Mother she recounted some anecdote
Hilarious or poignant, the gamut was wide

From hot-air-balloon expeditions to
Trips to Israel, China, Myanmar
One of the things I delighted in right away
Was Irma's incomparable sense of humor

It was the quality I admired most in her
An ability to take the good and the bad
Relatively in stride and the grace with which
She would on occasion recount a story

Highlighting the absurdity rather than
The maror it seemed to me
Her natural disposition was one of
Graciousness and I am certain

This is one of the qualities that made her
So wonderfully able to merge
Her sensitivity to her positivity
In some ways Irma was like the phantom

Joy in the background of my relationship
With my mother which is no small role
To a daughter of a complex, idealistic parent
Her standards and values were the same as my mom's

I witnessed their love and friendship
Validate the one to the other in countless
Moments of laughter even when
They weren't in the same time-zone

Reveling in the retelling of shared adventures
Conversations, challenges, illuminations
And inevitably, shared fears, they forged a sisterhood
Of such depth and soulfulness that to hear the one

Rhapsodize about the other
Was to marvel at the true meaning
Of potential among kindred-spirits
Crystallized