I am missing my friend....

It's been 4 days and I think I am finally ready to write this. For those of you who haven't heard the news by now, the world lost a beautiful woman and amazing mother Friday morning. Aleida Franklin was driving to work when someone ran the red light and hit her. She died very shortly at the hospital. 10 hours after her death I came home from work, logged into my email, getting ready to send her an email about a movie this weekend when I saw an email from April at Studio Calico. I didn't understand her email. All it said was

"Just wanted to contact you regarding Aleida and the news I heard this morning. Is everything alright?"


I had no idea what she was talking about. I grabbed my phone and called her cell...no answer. Then I jumped on the boards at SC and read the news. My amazingly talented, beautiful friend was dead. My heart stopped, and for a moment I stopped breathing. It was like some one had punched me in the stomach. Was this real? Then I saw a post from one of our mutual friends, and I sent her a PM with my cell asking for confirmation and Brandon's number. I had to hear the truth from "real" sources. I didn't doubt my eyes...I just didn't want to believe what I was reading.

4 days later I am still very sad, but at the same time I am amazed. The response from the scrapbook community has been so overwhelming! So many people have visited Aleida's blog, sharing their sadness and offering condolences and prayers for her family. If she ever had any doubts about being loved, they were all blown away. So many people read her blogs or knew her from online scrapbook message boards.

Aleida came into my life mid summer last year while I was working at Recollections. She was a spunky, feisty and sarcastic scrapper that spoke her mind and had a style all her own. Admittedly I was intimidated by her when we first met. Over the next couple of months we got used to each other and started talking about our lives outside of the store. By September I was happy to call her my friend. We started sharing our goals and dreams of what we wanted, both in our scrapbooking and in our lives. Then Dave proposed. Naturally Aleida was one of the first girls I thought of when I started thinking about Brides Maids. The look on her face when I asked her...it was brilliant. That was the day our friendship, in my mind, changed forever. That was the day I started to consider her as one of my best friends. I was so inspired by her work, her zest for life, the love she had for her family, but most of all I was inspired by her spirit. She spoke her mind and never thought twice about it, nor did she regret it. She gave encouragement to all who entered our store and all who encountered her online. She was fun to be around and she made sure you know how she felt about you.

Tonight I sit in my office, looking through my albums...thumbing through memories, remembering my friend. I created this LO after she made the Scrap the Music DT. It was perfect. Looking at it now, it is even more perfect. Her friendship was a true gift and I will treasure it always. I love you Aleida. I will miss you, but I will take what you taught me about life and use it every day. Thank you for living your life and loving those around you. I'll see you again someday.