I recently returned from oral argument in a federal court case this morning - I've been serving as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for the past 6 months or so. While I'll likely ultimately win the case, I was exhausted and somewhat distracted this morning and was, as a result, a less felicitous orator than I had hoped. I was agonizing over that for a bit this afternoon and, as a diversion, happened to check my e-mail - there I was notified of some updates to your web site. I was reminded of how, as we so often forget, the daily ups and downs in our lives can really pale in comparison to other more profound "matters" that we frequently take for granted...such as life and loss.

You and I knew each other for the greater part of our lives. Indeed, we lived a block apart and as kids played soccer and tennis, swam at the Somerset pool, and played hide-and-seek with our sisters Cathy and Naomi (who were best-friends for many years) and the other neighborhood folks. We attended Sidwell as lifers, car-pooling there many mornings, and played football together in high-school. I remember vividly riding our bikes to tennis camp during elementary school and laboring to pedal up the Dorset Ave. hill; getting into a silly argument in 5th grade that left me missing part of a tooth (I accept your apology - I was wrong to have divulged a secret that you had told me); and attending many of the same house parties and other functions during our teen years.

While we spent much less time together as we got older, our lives remained inextricably intertwined in several ways. We last spoke at the Sidwell 5-year reunion in 1994 shortly before my mother died, and from our brief surface-level chat you seemed well then. I regret that we were, and will be, never able to again reconnect. In the face of the reality that happenings in life are sometimes just simply not fair, or good, or right, please take comfort in the knowledge that your family and friends love and miss you dearly. And thank you for the reminder.