The warm sunshine in just the right place on my body was feelin’ pretty good this chilly Montana morning at Fort Peck. It’s remarkable how cooking blueberry pancakes and brewing coffee not only warms the Stream but the aroma makes it that much more cozy.

I handed Kevin the blueberry pancakes along with the coffee to set at the picnic table and grabbed my phone, thinking I would catch up on emails, text, social media and all the usual…

I read that my ‘young’ friend, after finding out only weeks ago that she had pancreatic cancer (that also invaded her liver), had passed. Having worked with her daughter at my former bookstore, I felt overwhelmed with grief wondering how at age twenty three, you learn your mom has a few weeks to live and you have to say goodbye.

How the hell do I enjoy blueberry pancakes when my friend is heart broken and I am too?

RIP my friend.