for Ulla

In 1998, when I first went to Copenhagen, Ulla Okby brought me on a boat tour of her youth. We went to Christiania and talked about her squatting days and then traveled by a light post that had an angel on top. She told me that an old boyfriend gave that angel to her as a gift and every time she saw it, she remembered her youth. It was a cheap, flattering gift that still stands as a monument (and that was placed there by someone else)

I knew Ulla as the zany, witty, and dedicated teacher she was for the young people at the Roskilde Lile Skole in Denmark. She came often to Kentucky and I cherished our talks and get-togethers. In Denmark, she cooked me brilliant food and kept my spirits alive. In my home, she marked every book in my library that she's read with a Danish flag sticker. She and I both had a love for Douglas Coupland.

When she passed, I bought the wooden angel as a memory I could keep in my home of her friendship. Whenever I see angels I think of her and the karmic influence she had on my life. I think of her often and the impression she made on me. I was thinking about her last night and write this post in her memory.