My Beautiful Friend

"My beautiful friend" is how Audrey, ever the dramatic sort, always addressed me in her emails. I only met her a few years back, in the spring of 2006, when she came to work as our receptionist. We spent a lot of time one-on-one in her early days at the office, and became fast friends--she was such an open, bubbly, lively person, it was damned near impossible not to love her. She had the most wonderful habit of always passing along the good things that others said about you, and not the bad--it was like constructive gossip. She was the really, really cool friend who makes you feel like you're actually kind of a cool person too.

She was one of the most stunning girls I'd ever met. She looked so young, I honestly couldn't believe we weren't the same age (she had a whole ten years on me!). With her long, blond hair and huge smile, she'd light up the room any day of the week--but when she'd dress up to go out for the evening? Damn, the girl could stop traffic!

Ever the free-spirited world traveler, Audrey lived at home with her dad, preferring to save up her income to go on trips with friends from around the world. She'd been to England and ran a marathon in Ireland, had a few trips down south, and always talked about spending a year in Australia. When she left our office for a new job after just a year, it was to take a job out west that had a six week on/one week off schedule and would pay her airfare to home--or anywhere she wanted!--during her off time. I couldn't imagine a more perfect job for her! We kept in touch after she left. She spent her off weeks in NY, Florida, the Rockies...so many adventures.

Three months ago, Audrey was diagnosed with cancer. The prognosis wasn't good, but when I last spoke with her in October, she was in good spirits--she was feeling okay, and had started to regain some of the weight she'd lost (we're the same height, 5'6"...and she was thrilled to be back over 100 pounds). She'd recently returned from a beautiful trip to Hawaii, and was planning a December trip to Florida with family and friends. She was about to move in with her brother in Ontario for a while, and after that, planned to come back to Cape Breton to move back with her dad. I was looking forward to seeing her again.

Never got the chance. Audrey passed away last week. I miss her. I'll never forget the fun and fabulous times we had together. Don't really know how to feel; I'm still kind of in shock. The memorial service will be this Friday, and I suspect it's really going to hit home, being there with all of my co-workers. Our Christmas party is going to be that evening...we'll be the glummest table at Yuk Yuk's.

To the fabulous and adventurous Audrey MacNeil, my beautiful friend who really and truly lived her life.