Hey, Reese!
It's great to hear from you. I really think it's wonderful that you have set up a forum for all of us to keep in touch. I confess I've been guilty of not keeping in touch myself. Are you still in San Francisco? I would love to hear what you've been up to. For myself, I am doing well, in spite of a health setback. I was diagnosed last July with breast cancer. Total shocker, to say the least. No family history. Anyway, I had surgery (a lumpectomy) in August, went through chemo from August to December, and now am in the middle of radiation treatment. You should see me! I lost my hair, but it's growing back and now I've got a buzz cut. I look like the true butch that I am! Seriously, I love the short hair and plan to keep it, maybe dye it a fun color.

Anyway, I continue to work at my health care research job, and have taken a deferral for med school. I plan to go to med school at George Washington University in Washington D.C. next fall (2004). So, I'm beating the cancer, and am learning so much from this experience. I certainly cherish each moment, my dear friends, and life, more than ever.

Maybe you can edit this and post on the website? I don't mind that the class knows about the breast cancer, but I also want to emphasize that I'm battling through this and looking forward to the future...

Reese, I miss you, and hope you and your family are well!

Love,
Stephanie
March 15, 2003

I learned today that my friend Stephanie died last month from her fight with breast cancer, near the end of 2003. She was my age or so, so she was in her early 30's. I've been searching today for a picture of her and I at graduation, but I can't find it. I know I have this perfect picture in my files, but it's missing for some reason right now. I found some others though. I might post them sometime.

The above email was the last I heard from her. As often is the case, friendships grow distant over the years and especially due to physical distances. She was in Philadephia at the time of this email. But we hadn't seen each other in years. We met and bonded our graduate school year in New Jersey, 1994-1995. She was probably the closest friend I had among my colleagues at school. We even traveled together during Spring Break to Tucson, Arizona where her parents were and my friend was. After graduation we both moved to Washington, DC and hung out often at first. Then, as usual, things changed, time moved on, she moved to California, and by the time I moved to California too, she had moved back East. My last communication with her was the above email from her, and my response asking for the appropriate edits. I doubt she'd mind any edits now. So here it is. And there it was. I'm not sure what to make of it all. But I know that she was good people. And I wonder where the time went.

P.S. I finally found the picture: