My friend Andrea

I got some terrible and unexpected news yesterday about a friend of mine. I found out that my friend Andrea passed away over a year ago from an aneurysm at the age of 42. She had two boys at the time of her passing, age 4 and 5.

I used to work for a big time celebrity sports agent in Newport Beach who represented a lot of the biggest NFL and MLB stars. It was my first paying job out of college although it's really a stretch to call it that since I think they were barely paying me minimum wage and I'm pretty sure I worked about 100 hours a week. I know I am prone to exaggeration but in this case I am not... generally I worked 9am to 10pm on weekdays and then a good portion of most weekends as well. Anyway, I digress.

Andrea was the receptionist at this company and I ended up becoming pretty close friends with her for the year that I worked there. She had a knack for being a straight shooter and as long as she liked you (this generally meant that she thought you had good common sense) she would take on a protective air around you. I fondly referred to her as my mother, even though she was only 7 or 8 years older than me. She could be provincial in some of her opinions but she was absolutely the most loyal and dear friend someone could ask for. I know if I called Andrea at 2 in the morning for anything she would run to your side. She developed relationships with a lot of athletes who called the office and I saw her "take in" a lot of employees who were being treated extremely unfairly. I know she saw a lot of versions of me (young, first-time job, didn't last long) go through that office and my guess is that she protected, supported and helped most of them.

Anyway, she was really the only person I kept in touch with at that office even though I had become pretty good friends with two other women in the office. Andrea and I used to chat at least a few times a year but in the last 5-6 years it was more like every two years. Usually I would send a Christmas card and she would call me and we would catch up. Obviously last Christmas I did not hear anything back from her but didn't think much of it.

Through the magic of Facebook I found one of the women I used to know in the office and we started corresponding and catching up. She notified me that Andrea had a sudden aneurysm and tragically passed away.

I spent the rest of yesterday and a lot of today thinking about Andrea. I was sad that I missed her memorial (apparently over 500 people attended) and I felt so empty that I wasn't able to pay my respects to her family at the time of her passing. I wish I could have been there to grieve with everyone else. Now I feel odd grieving over her passing when it was so long ago. Of course I wish that I had called her more and had been better about keeping in touch.

And mostly I am sad that the world no longer has the spunk of Andrea, and incredibly sad that she leaves both of her boys so young. I was thinking they will probably not have too many memories of their mother. I can only imagine, if I considered her my mother, how amazing she must have been with her own boys. Ugh.

I guess it's a reminder to life live fully, tell your loved ones that you love them, and try not to take your health and vitality for granted. Andrea you will be missed but not forgotten. You will live on through your friends and family. You are a character who could never truly die.