Thursday, May 20, 2010

From Liz Wood

Remembering Rhonda's 2008 trip to Sanibel Island, Florida

Dear Blanche and Clare,

I can't stop thinking about Rhonda. I barely knew her, yet she was indelible, unforgettable, I think because of her love of life and being alive. The image that haunts me is being in the airport after we had all had our new year vacation at Sanibel Island. You two had started the shell collecting hunt, and there we all were, heading home, and she came to us one by one with a special shell - for remembrance, I am now convinced. I have mine, together with the jar of shells you made for us, and I shall forever see in them: Rhonda, so alive and happy to be with all of us, so fully alive as if she'd never heard of illness or cancer or weakness or despair. She brought that kind of fearlessness to her pathbreaking work as well. A stunning clarity and courage.

Liz Wood