Welcome to Thanks for being here. Very short pod that comes out every Sunday morning as

Sundays are such a good time to let go of the day to day and touch base with what matters,

what will matter and what will have mattered. The answer to that question for me is often

found in ceremonies I could watch strangers get married once a week and I'm even more affected

by funerals. Sitting in a service, taking in the story of one life, just another ordinary

person who they loved and who loved them. In a way, eulogies are about the most succinct source

of clarity and direction I can think of. So I ask listeners who have lost someone dear

to share their words and every week I'll read one eulogy here so that we don't forget

there is a point to the pain. We have much to offer. We affect each other deeply and that ordinary

lives are really kind of exquisite when you look at them closely. This is thanks for being here.

This week's thanks for being here is written by a woman named Julie Buchanan about her friend Pam.

I remember the first time I met Pam it was the fall of 1987 and I was dragging boxes

of suitcase and my parents down a long haul to Wilder 410 at the University of Rochester.

An oddly positioned silhouette stood in the doorway. As I yanked my belongings closer

and her face came into view she said hi I'm Pam I'm stretching my butt and indeed she was bent

to the side hand on hip leaning into her hand jutting sideways. Her eyes were two different colors

contacts I'd later learn and her hair asymmetric and mullity in a very 80s way was blonde

with the roots and brown at the tips and she was to be my roommate. Pam was the one sweet mate I hadn't

called in July when residential life sent the list of my sweet. I'd had a nice chat with Emily

who lives outside Chicago. I'd called Sue Ellen and Seattle Lauren and my Claire Sherry in love

canal New York but I wasn't sure what to make of this Pam Delper person whose address was

Merwin Lake Road Kinderhook New York there was no number just a street name I couldn't find

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