Missing the best friend I never knew

From Katie, 10/14/2013

"I stood in the storm. When the wind did not blow my way — and it certainly has not — I adjusted my sails."

Elizabeth Edwards

I DVR Katie every day and watch it in the evening. Mostly because I like seeing what Katie Couric wears. I can't get over how good she always looks!

Today one of her guests was Cate Edwards, daughter of Elizabeth Edwards, a woman whose life touched mine in profound ways. Cate was on to promote her work during October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and her focus on women, like her mother, who live out their lives with incurable breast cancer. And how Elizabeth lived! She was a wonderful writer, a trait that naturally I admire. But even more than her words, her indomitable spirit touched me. Elizabeth was a truth teller. She examined her life and exposed her foibles to the light.

Cate talked about her dad and his fall from grace, about her five year old half sister, about her husband. I was pleased that she seems to be doing so well. I was moved by how affectionately she remembered her mother -- as a whip smart woman that you just couldn't win an argument with. Couric shared the quote that opened this post, and Cate said that is what she will tell her own children (not yet born) about their grandmother.

It made me happy to think of Elizabeth again. If my TBR pile wasn't so deep, I'd revisit her books. I hope the gallant lady is resting in peace.

BTW, I met John Edwards at a fundraiser in 2007. He remains the best looking person I have ever seen in real life. Perfect, virtually unlined skin, blue eyes (and a tie that matched the blue perfectly), hair that you just know smells good. And yet his behavior reveals a soul that's pretty empty. Go figure.