How does a friend begin to try to explain to all who visit this page who Judi Ash was, and to share with you who she grew to become. She should be here with us all celebrating Spring, relishing in her friendships, and enjoying the passion of life!
Judi’s death shocked and saddened everyone who knew her whether it was as an online friend or a real life friend. I have searched my soul daily for some meaning as to why this had to happen. I strive to get though each day and to remember her as she was. The memories are happy yet sad, comforting yet painful.
I was fortunate enough to meet Judi via the computer in a webgroup for online moms roughly three years ago. We immediately clicked and became fast friends. I can’t even remember when she wasn’t a part of my life. It just seems she was always there, encouraging, supporting, and challenging me through the peaks and valleys of my life. She was my Soul Mate. She was my sister. Together, we created the best online support group for moms, FFMO (Friendships Formed by Moms Online). Within a short period of time, our daily emails became weekly phone calls and those weekly phone calls became daily phone calls, and on November 24, 2000, the day of my daughter’s 10th birthday, I welcomed my friend into my home and we met face to face. Thus began a new level of friendship for my Judi and I, a level of friendship that was too short. Nearly four months to the day later, I lost my best friend, my honorary Big Sis, My Judi.
You would have liked who Judi became in this life. I especially remember her human concerns (ie: domestic violence, child abuse) and how she met individuals and made them each feel significant. I will always remember her for her mischievous sense of humor, her love for life, her ability to touch people and her ability to conquer the obstacles in her life. I will forever carry with me her strength, her independence, her compassion, her readiness to help her friends, her infectious laugh that could make you smile even when you were feeling at your worst, AND her hugs. She gave the best hugs.
I feel cheated that she was taken away from me so soon and so young. God only granted her half a life, yet I am so grateful that she came along at all. I give thanks for the beautiful woman that I called my best friend, my sister, My Judi.
I cherish my last time spent with Judi and the wonderful memories that we made. I cherish that she became my friend, my sister. The beautiful, the caring, the irreplaceable Judi, whose beauty, both external and internal, will never be extinguished from my mind. I will love you forever, I will like you for always, as long as I’m living, my BEST FRIEND you’ll be.
"To the world she was one, to me she was the world."
