The Inamorata with the Best Laugh in the World.

1988 Berlin, I don’t even remember when or how we met, but one day she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into life. Those years in Berlin, those high school years were a whirl of friendships, boys, alcohol, clothes, the fall of the wall, breakups, new loves, and high school dramas. If my time there was a drive along a city street at night, she was the street lights that lit up the way. 

Then decades later a chat on the phone and the voice that I thought I had forgotten and that most perfect laugh all came together and once again, she was that spot of light, that circle of safety.

When I think of her back then, I think of music, laughter, cheap russian champagne and tequila shots. Strange pubs, and nightclub lights, U-bahn stops and Doner Kebabs. Now, I add to those memories with gardens, hiking, camping, vegetarian chili, liberal politics, cats and the Love of her Life. Her laugh is in there, her voice, her whimsey, her joy, her intelligence and her love. She is a bit of a sprite, with some trickster thrown in, along with the gravity of Hera herself. Someday I hope to grow up to be just like her. 

I have in my life been the influence that led friends astray. Candi was that for me, she was my first drink–a shot of tequila, she was my first cigarette–marlboro reds, she also cut me off from smoking after a very short span because I never really got the trick of inhaling. She was my first concert–REM Green, if you are wondering. 

I think of her saving me time and time again. She saved me from making the wrong choice for my first time, she saved me with a single message during a very dark time, she saved me again with a visit when the girls were just a bit younger, it is easy to lose yourself as a mom to littles, and her visit helped me wake up and look around and remember that I am more than just my kiddos. She saves me now when she checks in and offers an ear and heart to listen. 

She is without a doubt one of the most important women in my life. Her influence, her support, her sense of humor, the example she sets as a really good person, all make her someone I will love forever.