Two great men.

I was planning on posting a little something for my dear friend Ed who left us this last February, next month for his birthday. But I must say something now. I'm afraid it cannot wait.

My buddy and I shared a love for he written word. We would text, call, e-mail, MySpace, etc. each other constantly with new and beautiful quotes we knew the other would appreciate. He was an amazing man. Knowing me, and my love for language, Ed did one of the truely most wonderful things anyone has ever done for me. He sat down one beautiful October day in 2006, and wrote to my absolute favorite author EVER Jonathan Carroll. Never saying a single word to me, the wonderful morning of October 10th 2006 I woke up to find this in my e-mail....

Dear Jessica D,

Your friend Ed Westover wrote and said you were a fan of my books and that it would be great if I'd drop you a 'hey there' line out of the blue to tickle your day. So here I am on a sunny morning in Vienna doing just that. Tickle tickle.



keep moving, keep dreaming,

JC

Now, how is that for a true friend? Amazing. God I miss you Ed Word.

Now fast forward to October 16, 2008. Almost exactly two years to the day that I recieved that amazing e-mail. Jonathan Carroll came to Scottsdale to do a book signing for his new book A Ghost In Love. Now please keep in mind, he lives in Vienna, Austria. I have read his books (every single last one in fact, and own all as well!) for at least 8 years now. Not once has he made it over the Atlantic Ocean to do a single signing. Until last night. I will not bore you all with every single last detail. (Though I want to!) I will only say that it was one of the most amazing nights of my life. (Nerd Alert!!!) But most importantly, after all the nerves and stomach aches, he is truely a humble and wonderful person. I we chatted for what seemed like FOREVER and I finally got the nerve to tell him who I was. I started to say "I don't know if you remember me, but a while back my friend had written you, about me, and you...." This is where he stopped me. He knew! He remembered EVERYTHING. He told me all about Ed's letter to him, (in which Ed had told him I was a "very special girl" ), he remembered my letter to him about Ed's passing. EVERYTHING. He also told me a wonderful little story about death. Of course I can't remember the author....I was not in my right frame of mind. But as I was getting ready to walk away (I suppose others want face time too right?) He stopped me and asked if I was ok. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." "No." He said. "Are you REALLY ok?" He was genuinely worried about my well being and Ed's passing. "It's hard," I said. "But I'm doing ok..."

That is all we can really ask for right?


P.S.
Look for my post/slideshow for Ed next month. It'll be worth it. : )