Love for Sanjay

One of the things I will miss the most about our friend Sanjay is the way he could give you a Sanjay style hug and make you feel totally loved and safe...and he always smelled so good! There was never a time I can recall that he wasn't showing genuine love and affection for the important people in his life. Recently Karen Lum (Tye), Sanjay and I took a trip to Hawaii. While we were there I would frequently put my arm through his while we were out walking around...that's just how we have always been...but on this trip whenever a hot chick would come by he would jokingly scold me that I was ruining his game with the ladies! Other than that, I would have to say that my friendship with Sanjay has not changed much over the past 20 years. In 1998 my daughter Sarah was born. I was the first of our close friends to have any kids and I wasn't sure how it was going to change my relationship with people I had known for a long time, but were still living the
single 20 something lifestyle....Sanjay never made me feel out of place...if we wanted to do something we simply brought the little munchkin with us, which is how he came to be her honorary "Uncle Sanjay". In fact I have three kids now and sometime in the past year they were arguing over who's Uncle he really was...they called him to confirm that Sarah was his favorite (j/k). Sarah is now 11 years old and is trying hard to make sense of all this just like the rest of us. When I saw Sanjay in June he was already planning Sarah's first date...he was going to come over early and start cleaning shotguns on the porch with my husband so they could greet her date in the appropriate fashion! And he would have done it too...

I am trying so hard to focus on the positive memories I have of Sanjay for my daughter's sake and my own, but the reality of it is that I already miss him and all the things I was looking forward to doing with him over the next 30+ years of our friendship...We all know what a great person he was, and like most of you I feel so blessed that I even had the opportunity to call him my friend.

Sanjay, your love, warmth, and zest for life will never be forgotten..it seems God has plans for you and I know you are in a better place. My Mom's been up there for 25 years so I'm sure she'll be showing you all the cool places to hang out ;-) Today I bought the new Zac Brown Band CD for Karen and I...I was at Starbucks, it was staring me in the face and I had to buy 2 copies because I was overwhelmed with thoughts of you...I wish I had to buy 3...