Missing Ricky
It happened again. Having just heard from my daughter about some little milestone met by one of the children, I started to dial Ricky’s number. That frisson of excitement I always sensed when poised to share personal good tidings with her, was replaced by a deep, yawning void. It’s almost a year now, and Ricky is no longer on the other end. It is this abyss that underlines what is so special about a rare form of friendship so few have the genius to cultivate.
Ricky’s innate sense of not only sharing the positive with us and validating our happiness by elevating it to an eloquent high note, is so rare, that there isn’t a precise word in the dictionary to encapsulate it. We all know about schadenfreude– that very human characteristic so many experience when hearing of other’s misfortunes, that little sense of joy one feels (though may not readily acknowledge) at others’ pratfalls- , but it was the rarified human being, my friend Ricky Halperin, who felt and sang the most melodious harmony upon our successes. The music is just not quite right without her.
