I hope everybody has had a friend as loyal and supportive as the friend I had in Michaela Charron. She died on this day in 2017. It was a real shock to me, and I felt so bad I let our friendship go by the wayside.
She got pancreatic cancer from polluted water in her town water supply. I found out from mutual friend Jack on Facebook. I hadn't realized how bad it was, since I never got her final posts on Facebook for some reason.
I met Michaela through my pen pal Jack. I was writing a Bruins newsletter at the time, and he was one of my subscribers. She was a Bruins fan too, and Jack thought we had things in common and might hit it off. We sure did!
Even though we never met, and only spoke on the phone a few times, we were long-distance soul sisters. It's rare to find somebody who really understands your feelings and can be your BFF and accepts you the way you are.
She would want me to tell you that she pronounced her name MY-ka-la. Not my-KAY-la. The emphasis on "mike". She lived in Hoosick Falls New York, where I lived in Newton Upper Falls, MA. We shared a love of music in general and the Bee Gees in particular. Aside from the Bruins, we both loved cats, poetry, writing, nature, antiques and collectibles, photography, and old TV shows.
We had fun back in those days before You tube took over the world. She sent me her want list of songs and TV shows, and I was able to help her with some of them that were in my dad's music collection. When some shows she wanted were airing here and not in NY, I would videotape them for her.
I think Michaela was about 15 years older than me. I don't think she ever divulged her age, but it didn't matter. She was like an older, wiser sister. I loved to send her things I wrote for impartial critiquing. I sent her some of my original Bruins journals from my teen years to read for fun, and I still have all the sticky notes in them with her comments. Priceless memories.
Michaela was a wonderful writer herself, and she was at one point using me as a model for one of the characters in a short story she was writing. I don't think she ever finished writing it, but what an honor! She wrote some beautiful poetry, and I almost forgot about the articles she wrote for my newsletter. There were other articles that were reprints from another hockey periodical back in the 70's or 80's, complete with illustrations she drew. I still have them somewhere.
Part of what made our friendship so special was the letters we wrote back and forth. We were true pen pals- she used legal paper that was really long, and in various colors. She had small handwriting (a sign of intelligence). We talked about so many things, and because our letters were so long, 15-20 double sides, it could take a month or longer to answer! Waiting for a letter in the mail was like waiting for the Heinz ketchup to ooze out of the bottle. When it finally arrived I savored it.
We loved to send each other cute little gifts on birthdays and Christmas. One of my most treasured gifts is a perpetual calendar with psalm and bible quotes in it. I still use it to this day. When they stopped selling my favorite marigold "Halsa" shampoo here, She sent me a bottle. And countless pairs of gel insoles she got at the dollar store.
I'm sorry to say that I still have a lot of the things I bought for her that never made it into the mail. Ceramic cats, jewelry, and a little frog prince charm to help her find her own Prince Charming. Neither one of us were fond of Valentine's Day.
I always hoped to get to Hoosick Falls to meet her, or for her to come to Boston for a Bruins game and to meet me while she was in town. It never happened, but maybe it's better that way, I'm not sure.
If you've never experienced it, being a friend through written words is probably deeper and more meaningful than talking or hanging out. Different, but more intimate. Like we were strangers who knew each other so well. Not that I had any secrets, but I could have trusted her with anything I wanted to share, vent about or lament. She had been there before me and understood. She gave me good advice if I asked, gave me moral support in all my creative endeavors, and shared in our love of life, dreams, and things we wanted that would never come true. We rooted for each other.
Maybe she never got to marry Paul McCartney, or got her own special house. It doesn't matter. She was a beautiful soul, one you don't meet often in life. I'm so flattered and honored she chose to be my friend. She always understood my lapses in writing. She always remembered me, and I will always remember her. True friendship never dies.
Rest in Peace and memory eternal, Michaela.
Here is the perpetual calendar Michaela sent me. "Quiet Moments from the Bible" circa 1995. Have never been able to find another one. So glad I still have it!
