Happy Birthday, Karen!

Karen Long is my best friend. Today is her birthday - she's younger than me and I'm not saying by how much - so I wanted to tell you about her. Karen's the kind of friend that everyone wishes they had and if they are very blessed, as I am, they get the chance to have. She actually knew Zack before I did. She got Ken and I together. I had introduced her to her husband, Clyde, 9 years earlier, so there's some symmetry there, but still, thanks!

She loved Zack as much as we did. When Zack's cancer took a serious turn in the summer of 2003, Karen was right there for us. She's the first one I cried with when I really realized in July of that year that Zack was going to die. I can't remember why we were driving together, but she was driving me to Austin and it just hit me in the chest, knocking all the wind out of me and crushing my heart. She was there for me and wept with me.

When Zack had his first grand mal seizure and was rushed to the ER on Sept. 11th, 2003, and I was sure he was dying and was so afraid, she was the first one I called, after Stew Grant, Shellie Grant and Jan DeChambrier. (Stew met us at the hospital, along with Chuck Cauthorn, and stayed with us through that terrible time. Once again, thank you Stew. Thank you also to everyone who helped us that terrifying night.) Okay, in retrospect, she wasn't the first, but she is the one I called when I was sitting on the floor outside of Zack's ER room, broken, shaking and praying with every breath. I told her how Zack was Ariel's mentor for her Confirmation Class that year and had signed up to go on her Fall Confirmation Retreat with her that weekend and now might not even live through the night. She reassured me that he was probably going to be better (he was) and she immediately dropped everything, drove to The Woodlands and went to the weekend retreat with Ariel herself. It was a true gift and she was the perfect person to take Zack's place, since she and Clyde, her husband, are two of the people who led me back to God when I had strayed far away.

All through that Fall, Karen came down and visited, brought many surprises and Clyde, a retired Marine, had Zack made an honorary Marine, something Zack considered one of the greatest honors of his life. She was sometimes here for fun visits, sometimes because of another hospitalization. She was here to the point that she lost money from her Primerica business. She spent many days and nights with us up at M. D. Anderson. She was there with us, at Zack’s shoulder, when Dr. Ater had to show Zack his MRI revealing that the cancer had infiltrated his brain to the point that it was now terminal and that he would die. This wonderful woman was with us through it all - hospitals, late night calls, hospice and Zack's funeral.

Now, she's going to be the Mother of the Bride in less than 2 months, and I hope I can be even half the help to her that she was to me. I'll be there with her when her little girl becomes a wife and I couldn’t be happier or more honored. We'll go up for the wedding week/weekend, then come home Sunday night and fly to California the next day for a 5 day vacation with Lauren, then on to our new life in Aussieland. I'll miss being on the same continent, but I know that won't stop us from being in touch and visiting from time to time.

So, Happy Birthday, Karen. You're the greatest friend anyone could wish to have. I pray this year will be a wonderful one for you - full of surprises and new horizons.

Love always,

Your friend,

Barbara

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