Saturday, April 26 marked the date for my women’s writing workshops spring luncheon.  This luncheon was planned to honor the 96th birthday of Melitas, of the famed Mondays with Melitas!  But just 10 days before our luncheon was to begin, one of our very own passed away.  So now, came the shuffle to change the format.  I wanted to honor both women…so we began with celebrating the life of DD Gore and several got up and shared how DD had touched their lives.  It was a beautiful tribute to an amazing woman and friend.  I know she was with us there in spirit.  We then transitioned to having a few of my students read pieces of their works, we laughed, sighed, shed a few tears and together in that room bonded together.  We made new friends, we reconnected with our fellow writers, but through it all we shared a common love of friendship.  The feral cats then surprised Melitas by making her an honorary feral cat for the day.  My heart swells with pride as I looked around the room of 40 and saw all the smiles and heard the laughter swirl around the room.