As I go through my phone directories, I’m struck by how many people disappear from my life.

Some have left this earth to join the heavenly choir.

Some have moved away and despite our good intentions, we lose touch. We promise we will stay in touch and we believe it.

But somehow we get caught up in this thing called life and we never do manage to stay in touch.

The older I get the more I realize life goes by like a fast current we can’t control.

We simply don’t get around to doing everything we want to do.

Keeping in touch with those who have meant so much to me is something I value. Yet, while I will always have sweet memories of the special people who have graced my life, I am sorry I have lost touch with them.

As I think of those who have been most instrumental in my life, I think of Mary.

During the hard years of my husband’s illness, she was the angel God sent to help us through it.

At first my husband refused to have anyone in the house to take care of him while I worked. But then he met Mary and he also knew she was an angel that arrived when she was most needed.

There was nothing Mary couldn’t do. Whether it was fixing the coy pond that stopped working or convincing my husband to take his medication she did it well.

She kept me strong through all the trials. We had a signal we used to summon Mary when we needed her. If she saw our porch light was on, she came to help.

When Andy passed away I no longer had the heart to decorate a big Christmas tree. I told Mary the only tree I wished I could have was a bare branch from a white birch tree that I would decorate only with birds.

When I came home from work the next day there it was in my living room - a bare branch birch tree decorated only with birds. How she pulled that off in one night I’ll never know.

I had one explanation for why Mary was able to do all that in a day. She makes miracles.

Mary gave me so many intangible gifts - love, strength, and the true knowledge that we are forever sisters of the heart.

When I moved to Florida I thought she would visit often but she had family responsibilities that made that impossible.

We talked by phone, sharing our lives and our hearts but those phone calls eventually got buried in the difficulties of life.

On New Year’s Day I tried to reach out to her but her phone number no longer worked and no one I knew had her contact information.

One thing I knew for certain. No matter what it took I would not lose Mary from my life.

Yes, some people drift away despite our good intentions but as long as I have breath I vowed I will connect with her.

Finally, a mutual friend helped by giving me Mary’s cellphone number.

That phone call was such a gift for both of us. We talked for more than an hour, sharing the ups and downs of life, the same way we used to do.

Sometimes when we talk to someone we haven’t seen for a long time it’s hard to reestablish the same closeness. Time and circumstances can sometimes erode the deep connection we once enjoyed.

Not with Mary and me. We talked openly and honestly, sharing the deepest part of our hearts, just as we used to do.

Even though Mary didn’t realize I didn’t have her cellphone number, she said she woke up that day knowing I would call. She was always able to do that - know when I wanted to reach her.

There’s an old movie called Something about Mary.

Well, there is something magical about the woman I call “my Mary.”

She once said she never thought she had any extraordinary gifts. But with at least three people she was able to uplift their lives in major ways.

One woman put it this way: “Mary saved me when I was at my lowest.” I felt the say way.

I can only describe our friendship as a gift from God. It was like that from the time she came into my life and it will be the same incredible gift as long as I have breath.

I am someone who truly believes God sends special people into our life.

Some come for a reason.

Some come for a season.

And only a precious few some come for forever. When you have someone like that in your life you know you are blessed.

Let me ask you this. Is there someone in your past who made a major impact on your life but with the tides of time you don’t have much contact now?

If there someone who would greatly welcome your call or email?

Some people are just too special to be forgotten,

I can tell you from my experience with Mary that a phone call make you glow for days.

I wish we could still live near each other. But even when we are far apart we are as close as a one’s heartbeat.

Someone like that can never be forgotten.

Contact Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net.