Friday afternoon I had the honor of catching up with a sweet friend that I hadn’t seen in quite a while.  I am planning to leave my part-time job that I held for the last year because of my current position as an RN.  This sweet friend was going to take over my medical billing position so we met Friday evening to start training.

Of course the start of training included hugging as we met, catching up, and her wanting to see current pics of the kids.  I asked about her husband and she asked about my brother.  When we parted ways she gave me a hug, we said how good it was to see each other, and we made plans to meet for more training on Tuesday evening.

This morning I received a call telling me that my friend was killed yesterday in a motorcycle accident.  I was shocked and sad and walked around in a daze this morning.  This afternoon I found out that the accident was caused by a drunk driver who crossed the center line at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.  And I became angry.  My generous, kind-hearted, easy to laugh friend was taken from this life because someone had too much to drink and decided to get behind the wheel.  It’s not right.  It’s not fair.  It hurts.

My friend, Tammy Hale, touched so very many lives.  I’m thankful that I got to know her and I will forever have my memories of singing along to The Backstreet Boys in the tiny closet we called an office and laughing while doing it.   Tam, you will be missed.

Left-Right: Mindy, Tammy, Jessi, Brandy (we like to associate ourselves with others whose names end in “e”)