Her laugh was easy, sudden, beautifully raucous. Her eyes were the color of a clear Colorado sky, and she was brilliant, ebullient, and irreverent. She felt my exhaustion when I first sat down next to her in French class and seemed to decide to be my friend. "Hi! My name is Mary Ann. What's yours?" We figured out that we were down the hall from each other in the dorms and that was the start of my 44-year-long adventure with my best friend.

I'm so glad that I had a long, good talk with her on the phone that last time. We told each other our troubles, we laughed hysterically about old times, we reminded each other that we loved each other. No matter how many years would go by between our calls or visits, we would pick up our relationship as if no time had gone by. She was/is wise, kind, forever young, and talented, and I'm the luckiest woman in the world to have been her friend.