My friend Sam

Do you ever wish you could go back and do things a little differently? I am the queen of procrastination. I am the one filing my taxes at midnight, April 15th. I am always 5 minutes late for meetings. I forget people's birthdays, the list goes on and on. For some reason I always think there is more time.
Well, my friend, Sam passed away on February 17th. I didn't take the time to visit her while I was in Phoenix in January. Why? At the time there was good excuses-time was short, I couldn't find her number, I thought she was doing fine. See, Sam was diagnosed with cancer last summer. I did call her and talk to her when I found out. She was trying to get her mind around it. We were both a little uncomfortable talking about it. I didn't want to push it. At the time there was nothing to push. She hadn't started treatment yet. Instead, we talked about the bank, how my move home was, how much we missed having our group breaks together. Normal stuff. That was the last time I talked to her.
Now let me tell you, Sam was a cool lady. She always made me laugh. She was great at bringing people together. She helped me keep my job(when my temper would get the best of me, she was always the voice of reason). Her experience and knowledge of the banking industry was immense. She was a GOOD friend.
The last I heard she was doing good and getting ready to go back to work. I thought I would catch her the next time I went to Phx to visit. I found her phone number a couple of weeks ago and meant to call her... I hate this - why didn't I just pick up the phone and call her?
The only thing I can say is that I was a fortunate person - Sam Martinez was my friend.