Last week I lost my dear friend Rebecca. She passed away because of a sudden heart failure. Sometimes I hope heaven is a real place. Otherwise, it’s too unfair that someone like Rebecca, kind, generous, loving and caring, has to die so young. I got to know Rebecca the very first year I came to the US as an exchange student. She was hosting another exchange student in my program and we became friends that year. During the 10+ years we knew each other, Rebecca always looked out for me. Rebecca and Hannah took me to my college dorm room on my first day of school, came to all my dance shows and my graduation. During college, I stayed at her house for long periods of time during holiday breaks and summer vacations. We had great conversations. Once in a while, she would say “now I am going to put the mom hat on and say you should […]”. Those were the occasions when she reminded me to get enough sleep or eat well, take good care of myself. Every time I came to her house, she had always bought some of my favorite apples ahead of time. She loved this sesame candy I bought from Vietnam; we called it “Vietnamese chocolate”. Her kitchen cabinet was always full of many variety of teas. I can go on and on about the memories we shared. She had always been there for me.
Rebecca’s daughter, Hannah, called me when I was in ballet class. On the bus home, I listened to Hannah’s voicemail telling me to call her back. Her message was brief. I sensed that something bad might have happened. I thought, oh no maybe Rebecca is sick, maybe she needs a kidney, maybe she needs help with money, maybe Hannah needs help? But it never crossed my mind that the bad news was death. It’s hard to believe that I can no longer give her a phone call or see her ever again.