OceanicThai

Wendi Louise Lehman died April 13th at 11:30 a.m. I will love you forever, Wendi, my beloved friend.

My beloved friend Wendi L. has run out of time. I was planning on flying out to see her in June after the kids finished school, but her condition has deteriorated more quickly than any of us could have anticipated. She is on morphine and oxygen, and she no longer has the energy to talk more than briefly. My best friend for 25 years, I will be content just to hold her hand and be with her, nothing needs to be said, really. I already know she loves me, she already knows I love her. We have had countless hours of conversation through the years. I just want to be with her one more time before she goes into eternity. My passport and visa came just in time before the offices close for several days for national holidays here in Thailand. The seat I reserved was still available even though I went past the reservation day. I am in shock, I am devastated, but I am also so thankful I can make this trip. I will fly out of Thailand tomorrow and be able to see her Friday. Oh God, just help her to ho...

Wendi became my best friend my senior year in high school. She was a radiant new Christian, a peacemaker, someone who laughed at everyone's jokes, no matter how corny. She had a beautiful smile and a tender heart for everyone, no matter where they were on the social ladder. She was on the student leadership council and was the youngest in our class because she had skipped a grade- she was smart, too. In many ways we were opposites. I was more the angry sullen teenager in black, still in shock that I, too, had become a Christian. For reasons I still puzzle over, we hit it off. We hung out together, spent weekends together, went to Senior Prom together, did airband, went to reggae dances. We became best friends that year, 1986. After high school we were roommates in Long Beach for a few months before I went off to the army. We began to write long letters, the kind you write with a pen and send in an envelope with a stamp. The years flew by. Wendi was my maid-of-honor when I married K...