Farewell, dear friend – Mitchell News

I met Tracey shortly after immigrating to Australia. First a colleague and very soon a friend. As my heart aches at her premature death, I treasure the memories that we have shared over the last 26 years.

I remember……

…when you told me you were pregnant and I felt privileged at being one of the very few that knew (I appreciate it even more now knowing what a private person you were)

…when I first visited your home for your 30^th birthday and you announced the imminent birth of your son to everyone

…visiting you in hospital the day Joshua was born and marvelling at how you’d been at the gym that morning

…providing a shoulder to cry on as you mourned the loss of your mum

…supporting you as you navigated the break up of your marriage

…helping you learn to run at age 40, not difficult given your enthusiasm and discipline

…lots of long walks as we talked….and talked….and talked, solving all the world’s problems

…sitting at the foodcourt at the mall after running, going through our work over coffee and banana bread

…many a Christmas at your home….everything from smoked salmon to the special Danish dessert for which I’ll never know the recipe

…your surprise arrival at the Gold Coast for my birthday celebration

…picking you up at Milan airport full of excitement at the time you’d spend with us in our little apartment in Coletta di Castelbianco https://mitchell.news/2017/10/05/traceys-visit/

…taking you for a coffee at our local caffetteria (good thing you’d eventually turned into a coffee drinker) and the little restaurant we’d discovered

….cycling along the Riviera cycleway to San Remo

And then I remember….

…sitting in a coffee shop in Manly having just arrived back from 6 months overseas to find out you were very ill

…how amazing you looked every time I saw you in spite of your ongoing health battle

…the enormous effort you made to catch the train from the Gold Coast to Brisbane to catch up and to see my mother

…our last breakfast together in Dee Why, where you told me that you didn’t think you’d see me again

…the “bonus” visit when Walter & I saw you & Roger in Mooloolaba

This is by no means a exhaustive list, but some of the moments – both major life events and small snippets – that I will forever treasure in my heart.

Farewell, my friend!