Claire

 Claire

Noel Laflin

8-18-21

Received word yesterday afternoon that my good friend Claire had died. She was 88 years old. In my mind, after 35 years of friendship, she was simply timeless.

Her daughter found my number in her mom’s phone to let me know. She said her mother always had fun stories about me. I told Gail that her mom always had wonderful stories about her as well. There was mutual satisfaction on both our parts as we silently thanked the lady who had now gone on to tell more stories about us, and many others, no doubt, in a new world. And knowing Claire, I bet they are mostly nice ones – and funny as well.

But I wish Claire could have stuck around just a bit longer so that I could remind her of all the wonderful stories that I could relate about her.

We are pictured here in our last photo together with good friend Lesley. It was taken on December 11, 2019. A lockdown would soon ensue, preventing the three of us from meeting for lunch as we were fond of doing. But I am thankful for the friend that took this last shot. It’s a nice find in my laptop this morning when I simply typed in ‘Claire.’