Julie,
I barely remember a time when I didn’t know you. When I went back to see when we first met, it turns out it was in 2015, about 10 years back. We started out chatting on the sidelines of Leila and Ella’s crazy dance class and Dorothy and Devan’s Super Soccer Stars practices. And, by the following year we were organizing Lawrence Mom’s Nights Out, as well as running together on a weekly basis – a tradition that would continue in some shape or form until your final days.
At first, our runs felt like a reprieve from the frenetic chaos of raising kids. Soccer, Art Barn, dance, Beaver camp, tennis camp, birthday parties, art classes, math classes, volleyball, sleepovers, school, vacation–and meal planning…. When we weren’t running along the Muddy River and working out all of the logistics, we were driving around, delivering our kids to their many, often shared, activities. The days were long, but the weeks flew by. And we always had our runs to talk things out, or, at the very least, to vent about them!
We soon realized that our families had a special chemistry, and I am grateful for the memories we created together. Couple dinners, family dinners, game nights, skiing at Loon, paddle boarding, super bowls, park days and nights…the list goes on and on. Some of my favorite times were at the Life Time Athletics’ pool in Westwood. Our families joined in 2020 during the pandemic, and every time we went, we felt like we were at a resort in the tropics. We’d arrive, put our stuff down on one of the long, cushioned chairs under the umbrellas. Then we’d all jump in the heated pool and stay there for hours, swimming and talking, until we were forced to get out, mask up, and return to reality.
I am also grateful for the amazing friend group we share and all our fun, festive times together. Countless mom and couple dinners at restaurants, parks, backyards, and terraces, Halloweens and other evenings on the Carver’s porch, ice sculpture strolls, and a lovely graduation party to name a few. We’ve had so many laughs over the years. The other night Caroline, Vanessa, Rachel and I reminisced about helping our girls form a babysitter’s club in 7 th grade. After a three-hour mother and daughter meeting to work out the details, and a state-of-the-art website created by Ella (of course!), the club ended up garnering only one or two babysitting jobs and a face painting birthday party gig (Thank you Payson!). Nonetheless, the five of us will always be the “Babysitter’s Club Moms!”
Together we made it through three nail-biting elections, the pandemic, a temporary move, a permanent move, a new dog, graduate school, new jobs and projects, the ups and downs of our children, the crumbs left on the kitchen counters by our husbands, two bat mitzvahs, a graduation from Lawrence, the start of high school, and everything in between. I admired your passion when you jumped on a plane and marched with thousands of other women in Washington. And your courage as you bravely endured all your grueling treatments, procedures, and recoveries.
Through it all, you were my rock and my sanity check. How lucky for me that I had a standing weekly run, walk, or later, phone call with one of the brightest, kindest, funniest, resilient, and let’s not forget, fashionable women I’ve ever met. And, what a bonus that you were not only trained in finance and public health, but also in social work!
Julie – I miss laughing with you, crying with you, and trying to solve all of life’s dilemmas together. But I’m so grateful for your friendship and will treasure it forever. I have admired you since I met you and will do my best to channel your bravery and inner strength for the rest of my life.
I hope to continue to share thoughts and memories of you, and many more good times, with Sameer, Ella, and Devan, as well as all the people who were fortunate enough to know you, for years to come.
Thank you for navigating some of the most wonderful, difficult, exhilarating, tedious, but beautiful times of our lives with me. I love you and I look forward to running with you one day when we meet again.