Our meeting was random – we were assigned a shared office at UBC – but we became close friends immediately.
She gave me so many things during our seventeen years of friendship — the most important ones were of the heart and mind. But she was also an extravagantly generous gift-giver, and six weeks before her death, she bought me a beautiful black velvet suit by Cacharel. She told me that everyone should have something beautiful they can wear on a moment’s notice.
It was mid-winter when she took her life.
I did wear the suit to her memorial. I suspect this was her intention, and a final gesture of caring for me, but I will never know. Her legacy to all of us is a beauty of spirit that exceeds the exquisitely chosen presents she loved to bestow.
