Miss you sis.❤ Happy Anniversary in Heaven

Missing you so much, sis.  So thankful that God brought you into our lives. I know you're happy now and that we will see you again, but we all still miss you so much. You touched so many people and your legacy will live on.  Love you so much, Val 

Even though I never got to meet Dawn face to face we often messaged each other on Facebook as she was my cousin by marriage. I visited Florida a few ago but did not get to see her due to her being in hospital with her illness. She always sent me messages on my birthday and holidays. RIP Dawn and thank you for always thinking of me on special occasions. I love you cuz!!

Where do I even begin? I’ve known Dawn since we were in middle school. She moved to Florida from New Jersey and quickly became part of my group of friends. Right away I knew she was different. She seemed so willing to take risks. Rules didn’t always limit her. I admired her so much for being so bold, carefree and confident. She had a look she would give that told you she was probably up to no good but there was no talking her out of it. If you were her friend, her loyalty had no boundaries. She was a good listener, and gave great advice. I always thought she was so much cooler than me in every way. Imagine my surprise when she told me in more recent years how she always looked up to ME when we were kids. I didn’t understand how that was possible. She said I was smart and that I always did the right thing. So while I was admiring her for being so edgy, she was admiring me for being cautious. Too funny. She loved to dance and listen to music, and skating at Astro Skate was always a favorite for all of us. Fun times. In our adult years we lost track of each other for a while, but thanks to modern technology we found each other on Facebook. From that moment on we began to first use messenger and eventually began texting, every single day. I would get a “good morning” gif and later that night a goodnight. In between, we talked about everything. She loved hearing about my busy crazy days. We shared many laughs, and had a habit of teasing each other and then always saying just kidding. I sent her pictures of the snow every winter because she missed it so much. Whenever I went somewhere interesting I would send her pictures. I hated that she was stuck home so often. COPD is brutal. We watched This Is Us “together”, with her living in Florida while I am living in New York. We would sit down to watch it and then text during commercials about how the show made us cry. And we watched Live PD together too and loved to make fun of people, every Friday and Saturday night. When the Covid pandemic started, we shared our fears. We felt like times were changing and it scared us and sometimes made us frustrated or angry. Her breathing would get real bad often times and she would wind up in the hospital. It worried me so much every single time, but she was tough. She even had Covid pneumonia, and was terrified, but she still managed to pull through. She loved her family the most. She enjoyed cooking for them and keeping her house clean. I truly believe that she fought the hardest for them. She wanted to live and spend as much time with them as possible. I keep thinking about how she would be so pissed that she was cheated out of one last Christmas.  There was more to Dawn, a very big part of her that began a few years ago. One day she told me she wanted to start a Facebook group for other people who have COPD. I thought it was a great idea. She told me almost immediately she thought of a name for the group. Air Supply. We both laughed and thought it was perfect. She poured so much of her heart into that group, and it grew larger than we ever imagined. Last I saw, it had close to 4K members. She touched so many lives. When I see a post in that group it reminds me of how big her heart was. I miss her so much. There isn’t a single day that I don’t think about her. I miss our texts. I still often think “I have to tell Dawn about this” and then I remember and just shake my head in disbelief. It doesn’t seem real. I don’t know when it will. I have a few texts from her  that I plan on printing and saving. One in particular is a text she sent me after reading part of a story I was writing. She always tried to boost my confidence with my writing. I plan on framing that text and keeping it near me as I write a new story soon. I shared this story with her roughly a month before she passed. We were both so excited about it. That was probably the final big conversation we had. I hope I was as good of a friend to her as she was to me. I “talk”to her often. I can hear her reaction to things in my mind plain as day. We are all grieving now that she’s gone, but I believe that she is somewhere watching over us, thinking she’s much more comfortable now, not struggling to breathe anymore, something she craved so much. I love you Dawn. I don’t know how it is that you’re really gone. I know what I’ve written here is terribly long, but she deserves so many words. So much more than I’ve even said. 

I have so many fond memories of Dawn and her Mom and Dad.  Many weekends I would spend the night and end up dancing in her room with the music blasting until the wee hours.  Her Mom bought her a strobe light for her Birthday one year and she absolutely loved it.  I was dizzy and falling all over the place, but, hey, that’s what friends do.  Her mom would come in smiling and Dawn would make her dance too!!  Dawn had this way of getting you to do things by giving you that certain devious smile,  along with a wink, while hitting her elbow into your arm, and saying, “c’mon, c’mon”.  At lunchtime in High School she and I would dance down the forbidden hallway where classes were in session.  We were always living on the edge! 😂 I miss you so much my sweet, caring, loving bestie.  This world is just not the same without you in it, but I know you are walking arm and arm with Jesus down a warm sandy beach.  I Love You and you will always remembered. ♥️

I miss you sis, especially on Sunday mornings watching the Flintstones.  Yabba dabba do up there and I'll see you on the other side. I love you Dawn, fly high Angel❤🙏