She was one of a kind

The bench that Cobra and Mark brought to Gabriel just out of the blue one day.

I lost a good friend Monday. I've written about Cobra in my blog before. She had been battling many health problems for years now, and her heart finally gave out Monday morning. She was 66 years old.

We met 9 or so years ago when I was matched to be her Literacy tutor. We became really good friends during the process and had stayed in touch even though the training stopped when I found out I was pregnant. What I'll remember most about our friendship is the times I would go over to her house to tutor, and we'd end up just talking and laughing for the entire two hours instead. I came to look forward to those Saturday mornings just to catch a little of her spark and carry it with me all week.

Her real name was Diane, but she changed it to Cobra while living in Iran with her husband, Mark. She was a fascinating person with a rich history that I was still learning about. She had 4 kids that she had some issues with after divorcing their Dad and running away with Mark (the youngest was 16 at the time), but she has since made peace with them about that and many other things. She had never told them about her dyslexia and reading issues, even though several of them struggled through school with the same problems, but she came clean about that too.

She loved to cook and garden, and you never left empty-handed after visiting her. She would pile me up with little knick-knacks she had seen and thought of me, homemade fudge during the holidays, fresh veggies she had extras of, or best of all, her homemade fig preserves right off of her many fig trees each year. We just finished off the last of it about a month ago, and when I called her in the hospital two weeks ago, she said she had more at home to give me.

She was very spiritual and believed in omens and visions. She claimed she had dreams about people's futures. She understood and was respectful of many different religions. She was also very talented with arranging flowers, even though they were mostly silk, which I just don't get into. She did several weddings and sold arrangements at craft booths here and there. She and Mark helped out with our wedding, and she immediately became fast friends with Jav's family from Mexico even though there was a language barrier. Cobra was just like that. She broke barriers and exceeded expectations about what human beings could be like.

She was so excited when I told her about the first pregnancy, and ended up falling in love with Gabriel and he loved her right back. She always had gifts for him when we visited. We made a point to visit about once every three months or so, and last saw her in late July, just before she flew to Michigan to spend two weeks with her kids, grandkids and one great-grandson, all of whom live there. Now I'm so thankful to God that she was able to make that trip.

She taught me about strength, perseverance, gratitude and giving. In the midst of all of her pain and health battles, she never stopped living like she wanted to, and never stopped thinking about other people and what she could do for them. I'm very thankful that she became part of my life, and I'm really going to miss her.