elegy

i sat down several times to write an elegy...for the passing of my dear friend, june...but the words won't come...maybe it's impossible to write mournfully of someone so electric...so honest...so dear...our first meeting well over a decade ago...tennis lessons at a public tennis court in huntington...maybe laughing more than hitting...a fast friendship...then moving our tennis talents (apparent mostly to us) to inside courts and lessons...discovering that with her forehand and my backhand we made one great tennis threat...thursday happy hours...saturday morning breakfast marathons at panera...dinners in town, sometimes with mike and jim...sometimes with other friends...always her magnetic smile...she knew me at my best...my worst...and all in between...watching our kids grow into wonderful young adults...in my life there have been less than a handful of people who have for no reason, shortened my name and called me "sher" (really, almost sounding like "sheh")...first, my brother...given what else he could have called me, it was a term of endearment...then a boss many years later...which first startled me, and then i hardly noticed...and then, june...when she said it i couldn't help but smile...to this moment i can't tell you which of us was "thelma" or "louise"..."lucy" or "ethel"...but i can tell you one was never really whole without the other...i only know that next time a bartender asks, "what'll it be"...it'll be june whispering to the bartender, "hey, this is my friend, sher"..and i"ll smile...