Paula Lawson

My great friend Paula Leah Sossen Lawson passed away suddenly this Sunday.

You would have liked her. Born in Massachusetts and living in Connecticut, she had this clear-cut, take-no-prisoners manner about her. She didn't couch her opinions and thoughts; you knew what she thought and you knew where you stood. But she was never rude; she opined with ease, grace and style. I respected that about her.

She had such a dry, often self-deprecating sense of humor. Sometimes she'd crack a joke and it would take me a full several seconds to catch up - then I'd laugh hysterically. Her one-liners kept me in stitches for more than a decade.

We "met" on an listserv for February 1998 Moms. Her son Jack was born just a few weeks before Anna Katherine. Our listserv defied time constraints and geographical boundaries, staying together until, well, we're still together. It's been more than 11 years.

Several of us in the FebMoms group have been lucky enough to meet in person. Paula and I connected early on and frequently talked off-line, both via e-mail and on the phone. We exchanged cards, letters and pictures of our growing children.

We met in person four times. Twice in Boston: once we had great times at the public gardens with other listserv members, another time we took our 3-year-old children to the aquarium and spent hours walking and talking. One time we met in DC and visited the National Zoo with other listserv members. The last time I saw her, about 4 years ago, she was in Atlanta for a work conference and I spent the evening with her, eating out downtown and talking a mile a minute.

We were so opposite: the Northerner (she called herself my True Yankee Friend) and the Southerner, the liberal and the conservative. But we began with the common base of the birth of our children, and a great friendship grew from there.

Paula and I e-mailed last week. We talked about the hilarious Palin/Clinton skit on SNL, and she said she had "cankles" (she didn't, of course).

Last night, a member of our listserv accidently stumbled across a mention of her sudden passing and we were all stunned. Today has been a day of remembering with friends via phone and e-mail, and a day of deep sadness for her husband, son, twin sister, parents and work family.

It's hard to encapsulate such an intelligent, kind, feeling woman. How do you describe all she desired, all she accomplished, into a few sentences? She was a good person, she married a good man, she raised a good boy and she was well-loved. Maybe that's a start.