TRIBUTE TO SUSAN POPE

When my daughters were very little we lived in New York City way up in the northern part. A city bus stopped right in front of our apartment building and went across to the Bronx, right past the Zoo. We spent a lot of time at the zoo, and celebrated birthdays there.

But we spent lots more time at the Library.

One of the first things we did after moving was to visit the Children’s Room at the Inwood Branch of the New York Public Library. We marched up the stairs and strode to the desk and spoke the woman at the desk saying “Are you the Children’s Librarian? Because we spend a lot of time at the Library and you’ll be seeing a lot of us so we figured we should introduce ourselves.”

She was Susan Pope, the Children’s Librarian, and she became a good friend to all of us.

Years later we had moved upstate to Woodstock and she would make an annual visit in August as a birthday visit to me. We would spend the day together and just hang out. The last time she made the trip to Woodstock was in June of 2000 for my wedding, which took place at our house up on Meads Mountain.

It was a whirlwind of a day, but I was so happy to see her. I didn’t know it would be for the last time.

I moved down South several years ago.The last time I trekked up to NY I tried to squeeze in far too many events and decided to skip a side trip to NYC. How I regret that now. Even then I knew she was struggling with cancer, but she kept insisting all was fine, just a bit uncomfortable—what with chemo and all.

I am just now planning another trip to New York state and tried to contact her to arrange for a day together. After all, it was way overdue.

Her email account bounced back. Okay, it was through her work and maybe she had left that job (so unlikely).

I phoned her apartment number but whoever answered seemed to not understand English and just hung up on me. How rude.

Okay, so maybe she left NYC and went to stay with her daughter upstate. But I didn’t know her daughter's married surname. Granted, the town she lives in is small enough that I could call Anyone there and get a message to her.

Then I thought that maybe Annika might know Susan's sister’s number. Last year Susan was going out to visit her sister and Annika and Susan were supposed to get together (Annika lives in LA, so does the sister).

I got the number then let it sit, uncalled, for over a week. I just didn’t want to know, to hear what I dreaded might be true.

But I phoned today and found out that Susan passed away last January first. This right after the doctor’s said she’d be around for another year or two.

Shock. Tears. And Sadness.

It is difficult to have a part of your life suddenly just not be there, even if you haven’t seen each other in ages. There will always be next time. Except this time there won’t be.

Oh Susan, we will miss you terribly.