I have known Melissa for almost twenty years. In the beginning, she was a just voice on the phone calling report from the main campus ED to my unit, H81. We both worked weekends, so this happened often. We would laugh and joke on the phone even though we had never met. One particular bad weekend, she and another nurse were calling report on four difficult patients at the end of the shift. Even though holding patients in the ED was frowned upon, they agreed to only send two before we left. A few days later, I was working in my local dental office (I am also a Dental Hygienist) and I go out to the waiting room to meet my new patient. We chatted as I walked her back to my room, asking her about where she worked and what she did. It was then we realized we had been talking to each other on the phone, at work, for months. Let’s just say, that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. A few months later, she transferred from the ED to CDU and convinced me to join her. We carpooled together for many years, until her transfer to the Avon ED. We weren't just work friends. We shared birthdays, holidays, summer parties, cookie exchanges, and casino trips. Some of my best memories over the years are the ones we spent together. There are so many pictures of us together, smiling and laughing. I have watched her children grow from grade schoolers to college students. Young adults who she was so very proud of. We have shared so much over the years, there are no words to express the loss I feel at her passing. You can not replace a friend who knows you so well and with whom you have shared so much. I am so sad for her and her family for the life events she will miss. Randy and Rachael’s college graduation, their future career paths, marriages, and families. The many more years she and Mike should have had together. The old friends, she had and the new ones she would have made. She and her family endured so many hardships over the past year, with the hope of a happy healthy new year. My deepest heartfelt condolences to her immediate family, Mike, Randy, and Rachael, and her extended family and friends, as we all grieve this tremendous loss.
