A story I wrote some years ago for children to help them process grief when a loved friend passes. It’s based on my own life, and loss of my own bestest-best friend when I was a girl.
you live on always in memory and love, Regina
I have a very bestest best friend.
She is taller than me.
Her eyes are brown but mine are blue.
She can count high as the sky, but I can read more words.
We do everything together!
We sell cookies
And go camping
And paint pictures
And play handball
And tell each other stories
All afternoon long.
My best friend is the coolest friend in the world.
When it’s SO hot outside and everyone is desperate for a popsicle
She can put a cold cloth right against her head under her hair!
When we’re feeling blue, she knows the best jokes to make everyone feel good.
But a best friend is only a friend when you’re a friend back.
Sometimes my best friend gets tired.
Momma says everyone gets tired sometimes.
So then it’s my turn to cheer her up!
I do somersaults for her.
And paint her pictures
And squeeze play doh into silly shapes
And read stories together
And play board games
Until late in the night!
Sometimes my best friend doesn’t feel well. Momma reminds me that we all feel icky sometimes.
I remember being sick last year and having to go to the hospital for a day.
I got toast with strawberry jam! So, I made my friend toast with jam too!
She said it was delicious. Then we both lay down and had a nap together.
I love spending time with my best friend.
One morning I woke up and couldn’t wait to go play with her!
Her big sister sounded sad on the phone. Momma had to talk to her mommy for a time.
I didn’t get to visit my friend that day.
I spent the day lying on the grass
And counting the clouds
And reading books
And walking on my hands
And dressing my dolls
And wondering when I could go see my friend again.
Momma says I can’t see my friend anymore. She’s gone to rest.
I have to dress in a scratchy dress and go to a very serious place to say goodbye.
At school everyone sings songs and tells stories about my friend.
They plant a tree and put a rock in a garden so everyone will remember her.
I’m so lucky to have a best friend.
The grown-ups don’t know, but we still play together.
Sometimes she visits me in my dreams and we read stories together
On the greenest green grass you ever saw, with the blue sky over head dotted with clouds.
I know we will be best friends forever.
Someday she can show me her new home.
And we can tell jokes about how serious everyone is.
And there, we can bake cookies,
And sell lemonade
And roll down long grassy hills
And play games
And read stories until the stars twinkle overhead and we fall asleep beneath the great, great sky.