Two years ago today, I lost one of my best friends. I didn’t write about then. It was too difficult.

My friend, Amy Schmitt, fought breast cancer for several years before leaving this world on June 30, 2019. The photo at the top of this post is the last one we took together. It was after a chemo appointment and she was still smiling!

I said goodbye to my friend at a home for hospice patients a few days before she passed. We had a good talk. We held hands. We said, “I love you.” I served her a cocktail with a fancy pink straw and it made her smile. I wasn’t there when she died. We were out of town and missed her memorial service, too, which was devastating for me. I didn’t tell many people my friend had died. I didn’t talk about it. But I’ve had time the past two years to grieve and cry and remember. And there are some things about my friend, Amy, I’d like to share.

Amy was the kind of friend we all want to have. She was ready for the next adventure at a moment’s notice, she made time for the people in her life, listened intently, made me laugh when I wanted to cry, and picked me up even when she was down. Relationships meant everything to her and she invested in people whether she’d known them since childhood or just met them at a doctor’s visit. 

What I loved most about my friend, Amy

One of the things I admire most about my friend, was her consistent example of appreciating every single blessing in her life. Even before she was sick, she’d tell me it’s the small things that matter – a flaky pie crust, a singer with perfect pitch, a deer in the pasture, and a big Montana sky. She noticed and appreciated these things. Every. Single. Day.  

I will also always remember her beautiful voice – a gift from God that she used to throughout her life to testify His love. I heard it for the first time when we sang together in the children’s choir at church when we were young. I listened in awe to her sweet sounds in junior high swing choir, and throughout high school during our musicals. We had the joy of attending many concerts and Christian worship services together as adults, so I will never forget Amy’s incredible voice as well as the happiness it brought to so many others, including me. 

Most of all, I will remember Amy as loving mother, wife, and child of God. She was a strong woman and believer – a follower and disciple of a savior she personally knew and wanted to tell others about. Her love of family and her trust in Jesus were unconditional.

While I miss my friend deeply on this earth, it gives me a great sense of peacefulness to know that she is is heaven, singing His praises forever more. Tonight, I’ll celebrate Amy’s life with a few girlfriends. We’ll share a meal, laugh, and likely cry. And we’ll remember our friend and the joy she brought to all our lives.

May you all have a friend like Amy in your lifetime, and may you never take one day with them for granted.