Nothing's changed. You are missed greatly Judy.

Happy birthday Judy Pelot!

In the hustle and bustle of the day last year I only made a brief post to Facebook regarding Judy's birthday. I felt bad about that all year long. Seriously, as today approached, I kept thinking what a bad friend I was. How could I have let this slip past me? I kept turning to the fact that I am a visual person and not a writer. Here's what I think that is all about. The fact that back in the day, we didn't have camera phones everywhere documenting our every moment in existence. I was actually pretty proud of myself for having a camera with me when visiting in St. Louis. What I am getting at is that I have a feeling that in the back of my mind I wanted to keep posting new images of Judy on this memorial site but I just didn't have as many as I would have liked. And there is no video of her. That makes me very sad. But there's not much I can do about that.

I imagine there are tons of memories captured by other friends of Judy that could be shared. I just haven't been able to connect with one of her best friends, Laura Gotsch. Laura and I got to see each other in FL when her family was visiting and then later when she visited with her boyfriend and brother. Then we sort of lost track. I moved to Minnesota and I believe also moved. And I don't believe she is on Facebook.

The first time I met Laura was when I was at Judy's parent's house and she announced that we needed to go to the Crestwood Mall to bring Laura a sandwich for lunch. Laura worked at a cookie shop there.  She began making a lunch for her and we went to the mall. Laura's smile when she saw Judy with a lunch was priceless. You know, the kind of look a true friend gives another friend. She was very grateful. What a great friend to make sure Laura had lunch because she knew she didn't get a true lunch break.

Afterwards we went to look at albums in a record shop. I bought a Black Sabbath album. I still have it.

That was so long ago.

In the last decade, whenever I was feeling stressed, I would eventually have a dream where Judy would appear in a dream as if to let me low everything was going to be ok. That has always been so amazing to me. It's happened about 5 or 6 times. It's always been at the most crucial moment when I really needed some reassurance.

That hasn't happened in the last few years. Unfortunately, I am probably the most stressed I have ever been. And while I'm not expecting anything to happen that resembles what I described above, it was just making me appreciate those past experiences where she shared in such a giving way in everything she did. In life and after ...

So it is with humble gratitude that I raise glass and honor Judy and her generosity and overall shining essence.

Happy Birthday Judy. You are always missed and always loved. Rest in Peace.