Today after class I got an email informing me that my friend Kim Hicks passed away on Wednesday. It was very sudden, and she was young (just 48). She was a woman who I graduated with and we started grad school together in August. She is someone who was certainly not always agreeable, but she was indeed a friend to many. She worked hard to finally get to college, she wanted to be a counselor. She came from England, like my dad, years ago. Maybe that is why I liked her so much. She had a hard life, enduring serious illness, a divorce, and a house fire that she lost everything about 6 years ago. She is what I would call a battleship, a survivor- and now she is gone. I don't know what will happen to her boys. They might go live with their dad or maybe their older sister (who is my age). I just can't believe that she is gone. She brought Christmas crackers for us to pop in class before we got out for the holiday. I brought her some of the tea and biscuits my dad got in his Christmas box from our relatives in the UK. She loved her children very much and was proud of them, and told me about something they had done almost every day. She always asked about my dad, and how he was doing and if he'd managed to quit smoking yet. I always said not yet, and she always said "Oh me too. One of these days though we'll both get it." She said really precious things like "Bless your heart." She was funny, so funny. And though she had a temper, she was warm, you might even call her charming. I feel so sick about this. Please pray for her family, especially her two youngest boys who were still living at home, one an 8th grader, one in high school.