Posts/Photos/FAQ

Posts: Thanks to everyone who is posting and sending me stuff. I'm doing my best to get it on the page within a couple of hours of receiving it. Tomorrow, I start my day with a six hour flight, and finish it with a six hour drive, so my internet access is going to be limited. Please bear with me. I'll post everything you send as soon as I get where I'm going. In the meantime, you are, of course, welcome to post things. If you need me to send you an invitation to join the blog, please send me your email address.

Photos: I'm traveling with a laptop that doesn't have photoediting software. I know that some of the pictures are sideways. I'll fix them when I get home.

Thanks everyone for you emails and phone calls, text messages and IM's. They mean a lot to me.

To clear up a couple of frequently asked questions:

Who am I? Gretchen's friend Megan from high school. Yes, you may have met me in Long Island on one of a few of occasions, possibly at the wedding. I was one of the three high school friends, but not the one who wound up leading the Horah. That was Christine.

How am I doing? I'm okay, thanks. Honestly, I don't think it's hit me yet. I left for a business trip eight hours after hearing the news, and so I haven't had a chance to go through my own yearbooks, notes, photo albums. I'm sure that there will be some tearful posts later on, once I'm home.

What are the various memorial services and events taking place to remember Gretchen? To my understanding, the family memorial service is private. Gretchen will be buried next to her mom in Alabama. I think that's very appropriate and would make her happy. Amy is coordinating the Leukemia walk at Hofstra. Read the previous post about it. Dave and several of Gretchen's Long Island friends are planning to get together this Sunday. I don't know the details, but if someone sends me info, I'll post it. I would like to do something in Philadelphia for Gretchen's high school friends. Is anyone already working on something? I'm thinking a benefit dinner for us to get together, remember Gretchen and raise money for Light the Night, the charity she volunteered for when she lived in New York, probably sometime around Thanksgiving (which is also the weekend of our ten-year high school reunion- no, I'm not going) or Christmas, because people will be in town. If anyone has thoughts, or wants to communicate information about any other events, please email me, or go ahead and post.

Again, thanks everyone.

Star Certificate and Photos from Amy

I BOUGHT GRETCHEN A STAR AND WILL HANG IT IN HOOTERS, W/ HER PIC.
ILL TAKE A PIC. OF IT, WHEN ITS ALL DONE. (from Amy)

Photo from Amy of Gretchen and her co-workers

Photos from Dave

There are some pictures Dave sent to me to post.

A Photo from Amy

Leukemia Walk at Hofstra

Amy posted this comment on the first entry. I am reposting it here so that no one misses it. -Megan

"Hi Everyone,
We are doing a lukemia walk in honor of Gretchen. Since she did this every year we thought we would walk in her place this year. The walk is on Sept. 28, 2006 @ Hofstra University. I will be holding the $ for the donation fees, if interested please contact me, 631-455-2483. Registration starts @ 5:30 p.m., I will be getting there earlier, to hand in the $ collected from the donations. Shirts and balloons will be given out at registration. There will be coffee, and an area for kids, face painting, and sand art.Our team name is "Gretchens Girls". The walk is 1-2 miles, it will be over by 8:30.I will also be selling paper balloons to hang up, behind the bar of Hooters. they too, will be collected Sept.28 and handed in. So please, Gretchen would liked that everyone got together this for 1 day and did something that meant a lot to her. I would appreciate it if you can please pass this around and let people know about the walk.Thank You.
Amy"

The Gretchen and Megan Film Festival of 1993

I believe that the first time I spent the night at Gretchen's was in 1993. For the occasion, we rented Better Off Dead, Harold and Maude and The Suicide Club... weren't we clever little fifteen-year-olds? It's things like this that make me wonder if I should be furious with myself, or if I should see the irony and smirk a little bit at it, because that's probably what Gretchen would be doing. Our friendship often veered towards the morbid, and we could match each other's dark humor, barb for barb. She was one of the most intelligent and witty people I have known, and that's saying a lot. I shouldn't wonder why there aren't rainbows and sunshine and puppies in my memories of Gretchen. It's not who she was.

I'm 3000 miles from home right now. When I get home, I'll get to the yearbooks and the photo albums and the shoesboxes of notes (yes, notes) about God-knows-what, and I'll re-learn to play Total Eclipse of the Heart for her on the piano. She used to call me, in the middle of the night, at my parents' house, and ask me to put the phone on speaker and play it for her. My parents were always so thrilled. I can't remember if she wanted to sing along to it, or if she just wanted to hear it, or if she just wanted to know that I would play it for her if she asked. I would. Any time. She knew that.

Is anyone blaming themselves, or asking themselves if there's something that we could have done? I started down that route, but really, I think that Gretchen just caught up with herself. Maybe, like our morbid little film festival back in 1993, she's in on her own joke and the rest of us aren't? And at least, I'm sure she's at peace, maybe for the first time since I met her in gym class sophomore year of high school.

I'll write more. It's hard at first. I remember last year, when Patrick died, I wrote one sentence and then couldn't write a thing about it for a few weeks, and then, suddenly, the dam burst and I couldn't stop writing. The validation and friendship that I got back from his friends and family, who were reading my writing on a website much like this one, had a lot to do with my grieving process. It's why I set this page up for us. If you feel like writing, write, post, talk, remember, whenever you're ready. And if not, that's okay, too, just check in and read the fragments and memories. We loved her. I do think that she knew that. I think that's important.

Happy Birthday Gretchen

This is a picture from the "Royal Ball" -- a 'semi-formal' birthday party that Gretchen and I had. Because our birthdays were only about a week apart, we usually had joint parties at my house. It was my 17th birthday and Gretchen's 16th.

For those who might not know, the front row (L to R) is Julie, Langdon, and Angela. Then Tommy and Gretchen in the middle with Chris and Aimee in the back.

I have some more photos scanned in and I'll post them later. I'll probably go through my old pictures when I get back to Austin too.

Gretchen's Blog

http://praguegretchen.livejournal.com/

Remembering Gretchen

This page is for friends of Gretchen Garrison Kaminsky to share their stories and memories. Gretchen's friends are scattered throughout the world, from New Orleans, to Berwyn, to Long Island to Prague. I hope that this page enables us to remember Gretchen together, even though most of us will probably never meet.

You are welcome to create an account and I will give you access to the blog, or, if you would rather email me your thoughts, I will be happy to post for you. You can email me at megan_m_young@hotmail.com.