Forever Forty-Eight

My friend Cris passed away in April. I am just now blogging about it. I don't know why....I was just too sad at the time I guess and I needed some time to process her not unexpected but too soon death.





Cris and I worked together at Community Health. She was very Irish right down to her red hair! She was fun and funny and always ready to laugh. She was a practical joker but never at the expense of someone else. She also was a fan of being the mark of a practical joke. She would laugh and say "Oh....I LOVE it!" :)





She was silly in such a great way. She would often lighten the mood in the office by doing the simplest silly thing. One of her favorites was to put a piece of tape on the end of her nose and pull it up as high as she could and fasten the tape between her eyebrows. The result was a piggy nose. Then she would come out of her office and start a work related conversation with you and get such pleasure when you finally looked up to see her pig nose. :) Fun times.





Cris had the most calming spirit of anyone I had ever been around. She was naturally a great listener. She was a respecter of persons. All persons. I really admired those things about her.





We had a lot of fun. One time she and I were the only ones in the office and a truck load of food for Senior Commodities pulled up. The truck driver came into the office and sort of just made himself at home. He poured a cup of coffee and tried very hard to strike up a conversation. He was an older guy and a little rough around the edges but not scary or anything. Just a bit of an odd duck.





He wasn't really successful in getting either Cris or I to have a big group discussion about anything so he tried another tactic.





He asked if we were nurses. Cris pointed to me and said "She is!" thanks. :)





He wanted to know if I would take his blood pressure and I did. Then he asked if we had a lancet or scalpel around. (Uh....no.)





He said he really wished we did because he had a BOIL on the back of his neck and he was pretty sure it was a Carbunkle Boil. Cris had done an about face when he got to boil and was almost to her desk when he diagnosed himself with a Carbunkle Boil. I heard her snort just a little before she could stop herself. SHE ABANDONED ME! ON PURPOSE! Our trucker buddy went on to graphically explain the difference between a regular boil and a carbunkle boil...."A carbunkle boil can have up to seven heads on it and what I need you to do is just take and lance through those heads for me to relieve the pressure." Uh.....no thank you Mr. Carbunkle. We don't really do that here. That sounds like a good job for your Dr.




I told him that was not something we could take care of and exited as soon as possible to my own office. I quickly emailed Cris in the next door office....one word......CARBUNKLE. :) She snorted again.





Carbunkle would from then on be the only thing we needed to say to start giggling. :)





Cris had an unusually strong negative reaction to anything to do with belly buttons. That was also a source of fun for the whole office. We would send her forwards with pictures of 9 plus month pregnant women who may have been "innies" at one time but were "outies" now. Her reaction was predictable and so much fun. "Oh You GUYS! EWWWW!!!" :)





Cris got sick in October. We were working on a project together to increase the access to HPV vaccine for young women. I talked to her last in January or February. She was doing well and feeling really good and was planning to be back to work by the first of March. I kept her abreast of the HPV project progress by email.





In March, she wasn't back to work. She was back in the hospital and when she was released she was on Hospice. She died at home right after Easter.





Her sisters and she had planned a trip to Ireland this summer. The sisters are still going and will take some of Cris' ashes to Ireland and scatter them there.





I will miss my friend Cris. But what fun memories I have of her!





She made a wicked good Spinach Dip....I foundered on it more than once....here is the recipe....



Cris' Spinach Dip in Bread



1 round Hawaiian Bread - hollow out and cut the top bread into bite sized pieces - set aside

1pk Buttermilk Ranch dip - make up with Mayo and milk per the directions

1 pk Frozen spinach - thaw, wring dry and chop (wrapping the spinach in paper towels and rolling it up works really well to get out all the extra water)

Green onions - chopped (maybe about 1/2 cup and chop them pretty small)

Garlic powder to taste



Mix the dip, spinach, onion and garlic powder together and refrigerate

When ready to serve, spoon the dip into the hollowed out bread and arrange the pieces of bread around it.

You can also just serve it as a dip with crackers and such.

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I hope you try this dip and like it and just for fun maybe you will want to tape your nose up like a pig and have a good chuckle.