Life is short.
Make that SUPER short.
No moment, hour or day is promised to any of us.
I sit here thinking whether or not I should pen this entry, and I�ve decided to go ahead and do it.
I didn�t get Karen�s* permission to do so, (so I won�t post her picture here, nor her full name to protect her and maintain some semblance of her privacy), it�s just that this issue is heavy on my heart and mind, it hits so very close to home.
Having been close to death a couple years, due to my numerous past bouts with Cervical Cancer I simply must speak on this.
Karen N.L.* She is a school mate of mine, back from when we attended school at Ramstein American High School, on Ramstein Air Force Base, West Germany. Our parents were stationed there. It was �West Germany� back then. �The Wall� was up in �West Berlin� separating the free world from the non-free world. Yep there were 2 Berlins then (East and West; well 3 if you count the group �Berlin� from The Top Gun Soundtrack � but I digress�).
It was the 80s, we were young, wanted to have fun at every turn, some of us had virtually no cares in the world.
To make what is a very long and sentimental story shorter, and in an effort to avoid boring you guys, Karen* was sort of a friend of mine.
I learned that she�d had a serious heart attack approximately a week ago.
Karen* is in her thirties, has beautiful children, is a working mom, and is in the process of amicably divorcing her husband.
When I initially read the messages from our yahoo group, I was stunned and shocked then mad and wanted to cry. I was overcome. Me and Karen?...Nope we weren�t best friends, but we shared a gym class together and had lockers near each other. We talked just about everyday. She used to make me laugh in gym class all the time.
See at our school, Rockers were called �Freaks� all others were called �Jocks�. Karen was a definite �freak� by that definition.
As the sense, syntax and logic of the words in the email, shared by another class mate, and fellow �freak� was shared about Karen�s condition, I couldn�t help but realize what value this woman had brought to my life. A truly neat, albeit warped sense of humor, a strong and great attitude to deal with what ever cards life deals/dealt her, intense love and interest and participation in her children�s lives, and she�s a hell of a listener and friend to boot.
With all that she has on her Plate o� Life, she finds time to moderate or co-moderate a list we Ramstein Royals subscribe to on Yahoo, and sends us regular updates about her kids and their family activities.
Back in the day, Karen could have been described as a cool rocker chic, hanging out with the tough crowd, sometimes skipping school, smoking in the boys room, drinking beer, clubbing and banging her head to the hippest �Hair Band�. If you saw the movie think of �The Banger Sisters� and you�ve got our Karen*.
K-Lo wrote an entry yesterday which stirred me, and prompted this mini tribute to Karen*.
Much like K-Lo, I was friends with a lot of different kids at school. I didn�t belong to any clique.
I didn�t and still don�t consider myself popular, but I�ve made time, and continue to make time to talk to people all around me.
I was friendly, I always had a moment to talk to someone.
It�s a small but important thing I do. K-Lo I couldn�t agree with you more.
So back to Karen*, the coolest of the cool rocker MOMs (eventhough her kids may think differently), hanging out with the tough crowd (replaced now by her kids and the family sedan) HER kids NEVER skip school, they CERTAINLY don�t smoke in anyone�s room, only KAREN* gets to drink beer, clubbing has been replaced with playing her music at home and maybe in the car when the kids aren�t in there, Karen* now bangs her head to what USED to be the hippest �Hair Band�, in all seriousness solely because of modern medicine�s technological strides, and the fact that she sought medical attention without delay.
Despite the fact that in high school Karen* wasn�t my best friend back in the day, I for one am overjoyed she�s been given a second chance.
She matters because we are friends now, our friendship will continue to grow in the future, but most importantly she was one of the kids I took the time to be friendly with and talk to in high school, and she made time to talk back and make us laugh. � Yeah, we�ve got history.
Karen will have a chance to make more memories with her kids.
And for that I�m ever so thankful.
Rock on Karen*! Rock On!!!�
We weren't ready to let you go.