Moments Savored
On Fridays, I have coffee with mom and dad, my sister, and my niece. Sometimes dad dozes in his chair, or he smiles and talks about people we remember and places we've been while we hold hands. Sometimes my sister brings the sour cream donuts from Trader Joe's, or my niece blocks off some time to put the blonde highlights back in my hair. But there's always coffee, and there's always family. One of these Fridays we spent holding tightly to my sweet niece who'd just lost her best friend since third grade. She'd gone on a waterfall tour while in Costa Rica and never came back out of the water after a dive. One minute she was full of life and the next minute she was gone forever. For years the girls had brought their families together for an annual camping trip at Big Lake, which they took just a little over a month ago. "I almost didn't go this year," my niece said, eyes red from too little sleep and too many tears. "We all changed our mind at ...