annual weekend together March 2008( Left to right: Midge, Jean, Lori, Amy, Ginger)
sorority party 1977(Left to right: Amy, Midge, Lori, Ginger)We first exchanged letters when we were assigned to be roommates during freshman year at Duke in 1975. Ginger and I introduced ourselves on paper and made plans to purchase matching bedspreads for our beds in the tiny room we would share in Aycock dorm. We met and began a friendship that lasted 34 years. Along the way, we left East Campus for the snazzier Central Campus and leased a three bedroom apartment which we shared with friends from our dorm. We graduated, got jobs, married, and had babies in various parts of the country. Ten years ago, we reconnected with each other and created an annual "Duke Roomies Weekend" to be held every March. The weekends were wonderful and our friendships began to grow again. We held each up in good times and bad and learned from the experiences of the others.
This past weekend was our "10th Annual Duke Roomies Weekend." We met in Roanoke minus Midge and Ginger. Midge had to work through the weekend, but Ginger's reason for not joining the group was based upon a depressive episode that she was experiencing. She just couldn't bring herself to join us. Ginger stayed on our minds and hearts all weekend. We(Amy, Jean, and I) crafted a plan to cheer her up beginning this week and shopped for silly gifts to send to her. We were hopeful for her full recovery. I returned to Durham on Sunday afternoon and packaged the gifts to put in the mail Monday. I mailed the box at noon yesterday. At 4 PM yesterday, I received a call from Amy telling me that Ginger had taken her own life a few hours earlier.
My heart is breaking...
