Mara's 40th Birthday

On Sunday, March 29th, over a hundred of Mara's family (some who flew in from Sweden and Portland, Oregon), friends, colleagues, and breast cancer survivors gathered at the Avalon Cinema on Connecticut Avenue to celebrate Mara's 40th birthday. There were 50 colorful balloons, supplied by Mara's college roomates KSK and Nomi, popcorn, wine, water, and coffee, with ice cream and two big decorated cakes each with a large, stand-up cut-out of pictures Carol had taken of Mara frolicking among ruins.

It was a special evening with an unusual mix of purposes and emotions, organized by Carol. We celebrated Mara's life, remembered her goodness and beauty, and shed tears while finding comfort in fellowship with others who also miss her acutely. It was an evening that combined remembering Mara with reunions with Mara's famiy and friends, fun and a concrete purpose: to encourage donations to the Mara Fund of the Komen for the Cure organization.

Carol opened the "party" by explaining that we were celebrating Mara's 40th birthday because, as most of you will remember, Mara had encouraged her friends to have an up-beat 40th birthday "bash" for her even if she was only able to make it in spirit. Carol then spoke about why we were celebrating it in the way we were, with a fun fund-raiser. She then introduced Mara's immediate family members. David Mees showed photographs from their happy years together,* and Julie, a representative from Komen, spoke about the purpose of the Mara Fund, the fight against breast cancer. Then we watched three funny, yet realistic and touching episodes of "Sex in the City" which dealt with Samantha's breast cancer; her fear of ruining her friend's wedding by telling her she had breast cancer, her friends' difficulty with facing the reality of Samantha's breast cancer and Samantha's adventures with wigs as she worked to overcome her horror of losing her hair.

The next morning, the Bulgarian Ambassador was the host for a small, lovely ceremony at his Embassy to accept a large, exquisite icon, made by Mara's good friend in Bulgaria, Dimo. With short, yet moving speeches by the Bulgarian Ambassador, the former United States Ambassador to Jordan, as well as an Assistant Administrator from USAID, we were once again reminded what an impact Mara had made on the world.



*This was put on the next posting of the Blog by Mara's cousin Aaron Kraft.