Claire...

Where to even begin… I’ve been stumbling around the intersection of denial, shock and sadness since hearing about the death of my friend, Claire Compton.

Typing that out, it still doesn’t seem real. So many stories and memories have taken root and grown in the last day or so… Some of them I haven’t thought about in over 20 years - some of them I forgot I even possessed.

I saw my first major concert (The Rolling Stones) with Claire. My first CFL game. My first trip to the U of M campus. She was a valuable barometer as my personality grew more humorous. She was NOT afraid to smack sense into me when I said or did something inappropriate - some of my most cherished memories are of her downright LIVID with me .

She gave me such GREAT counsel as I was whisked away to Principal Pshebniski’s office to atone for my actions in what came to be known as the Great MJHS Food Fight of 1989, that I think she missed her calling as a lawyer. When I donned a dress, pumps and makeup for a school play in high school, she blocked the door and prevented me from running away in an under-confident panic.

Claire was one of the first of my friends who identified and helped me recognize my struggles with anxiety, which had nowhere NEAR the awareness and acceptance 25 years ago that it enjoys today.

Bottom line, a unique brand of fun and mischief was always in abundance in her company, and it makes my heart ache to know that those will only live on in memory now. Thank you, Claire, for the friendship. The advice. The good times. The dark moments. The summer we worked at Gord’s Corner Store. I like that the angriest you ever got with me was because I cast you as King Arthur in our school film for Ms. Hicks’ class. (’m still not sorry.)

Currently playing: Annie Lennox - Whiter Shade of Pale