Vacation Bound

Last April, some of my girlfriends and I gathered in DC for a weekend with our friend Drea.  Drea was fighting Stage IV breast cancer at the age of 37, and we wanted a chance to spend time together. 

In the midst of a weekend full of food, laughter and cheesy movies, we came up with the idea of renting a house at the beach the following summer.  Drea was first to put her name on the list, and we looked at houses and dreamed of a relaxing vacation at the beach, even though we all knew chances were good she wouldn’t be able to join us.

September 20, 2009, Andrea Pool lost her battle with breast cancer.  Our friend loved romance novels, all things Disney, ballet, the color pink, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Alias.  After she graduated from the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M, she took a job with the State Department, and we joked with her that she was using that job as a cover, and that she was really a real-life Sydney Bristow.  And she’d laugh with us.  But after she passed away, we all learned that she had been keeping a huge secret from us.  Drea, the Alias loving, romance novel reviewing bookworm, really was a CIA spy! In her application essay she had written that she wanted to dedicate her life to “protecting those who protect us.”  And she did.  But I still can’t believe that the girl who was never very good at keeping secrets, kept the fact that she was a spy from all of us!  I’m not sure if I would believe that she was really a spy, if I hadn’t heard her former boss talk about her at her memorial service last year.  Because really, who has friends that are spies?

Tonight I’m flying down to Destin, Florida and tomorrow I’m meeting up with my girls, as we keep our promise and join together at the beach for a long weekend together.  I was going to say that it won’t be the same without Drea, but I think she’s going to be there with us, even if we won’t actually see her.