This is more like it…

Beauty in My Friend’s Death by Paula Gordon at The Huffington Post

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese is how the world knew her, a scholar and intellectual. It was Betsey I knew. Our friendship was a practice in an unfashionable truth — people need not agree to be steadfast, life-long, dear friends.

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Over the years, it was always a surprise when Betsey and I found each other, all the more so when we both ended up in Atlanta. And over the years, she and I came to disagree profoundly about practically every idea that once had brought us together. And still, a larger truth shone brighter. We loved each other for who we were. Kept up with each other through the rough and smooth parts. And it’s mostly the very small, very personal things on which I now find myself dwelling in this sad moment.

Betsey and I graced each other’s lives. We reached across a number of genuine divides we both fully acknowledged. Why bother? Because we cherished each other and our friendship. In the face of her death, that is where I find the beauty.