Our lives are made richer by our friendships. Some we grow up with. Some we’ve known since second grade. And then there are others we meet along the way, years later, who snag a special place in our lives.
This was my friend Corine Aiken.
We met a mere 10 years ago. At the time, she was the Chehalis library manager and I was a regular borrower. I expressed an interest in joining Friends of the Chehalis Library — and that was the start!
We were different. She with dark hair and Italian background, me a blond with Scottish grandparents. She loved gin and tonics, fine whiskey and mint julips, while I preferred beer and local IPAs. She grew up in Germany and moved around, while I was born and raised in Washington state. She loved reading about the British monarchy, while I was all about true crime. Those differences made us unique and interesting to each other. Just maybe that’s the best part of later in life friendships
We shared much more. Her name was Corine Lynn, mine is Marilynn, so we named ourselves the Lynn Sisters. Shortened of course to cLynn and mLynn. We were both crazy about everything and anything purple. On birthdays, we gifted the other with every purple thing we could find — paperclips, picture frames, candles, bookmarks, nail polish — not expensive, just purple. Best of all were the same purple Peeps — now stale and hard — that went between us for five years.
We traveled to the Lavender Festival. Another day, we drove to the ocean to fly kites and stopped along the way to slurp oyster shooters. We went to Portland to see the original Declaration of Independence. We were looking ahead to more travels — to the Library of Congress where she was planning to use her “I’m a Librarian” fame to gain us access to those hidden archives. Never made it to the Neue Galerie in New York City to see the original Adele Bloch-Bauer “Woman In Gold” painting either. But we had plans, and friends need plans.
So, while I miss Corine Aiken, my life was made richer by our friendship and I am thankful.
Marilynn Chintella
Chehalis
