Justine was a likeable and sociable person right from birth. She was an extrovert with a capital E. Friends were plentiful and for life. She managed to make time for each and every one. Her first BFF was Ashley Barron.
Ashley’s mom, Meribeth was a coworker of mine who just happened to become pregnant six weeks before I did. This cemented us as lifelong friends and our daughters (both of them, as our second ones were due on the same day!) as very good friends growing up. Meribeth and I raised our children simultaneously and in tandem. Meribeth even breast fed Justine once. I babysat Ashley and her sister, Jennifer for several months when their mom started back to work. I called them the “Bobbsy Twins”
Ashley is an artist. She makes illustrations for children’s books. She doesn’t just draw the scenes, she cuts each leaf, twig, body part and blade of grass out of paper and fabric. It’s absolutely amazing! Justine would be so proud of her friend.
Here is her blog site if you’d like to see more of her art.
Cathy Lynn Brooks 
Absolutely stunning!! What a treasure to have…memories of the joy she gave to your daughter…and continues to share with your family now! Hugs!
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A treasure, for sure!
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Cathy, I love reading your blog posts but I especially love this one.
E
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Thanks Elaine! Ashley’s beautiful art inspired me.
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This is such a sweet post, Cathy. Thank you for including me in her story. Your family played such a large part in ‘little me’ growing into ‘bigger me’ and I have too many memories to count of time spent together. Every now and then a previously unearthed memory will show it’s face for a fleeting second and I’ll try to corner it down, taking in what I can: birthdays, sleepovers, interiors of our houses, pools, backyards, what music was playing, a specific game, outings, malls and movies. As blurry and tangled as these sudden insights are, one thing is always clear as a bell and that is Justine’s voice and her laugh especially. That I will always have.
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I’m glad you liked it Ashley. This one’s for YOU!
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Such a loving post, and this artwork is wonderful for children, us big ones too.
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It really is so fun!
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[…] release soon. I have an artist, Ashley Barron working on a book cover. I wrote about Ashley here. I’ve already had several ideas for the cover. You can read about that here. None of […]
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[…] asked illustrator, Ashley Barron for some advice. She and Justine grew up together. Here is the blogpost on their relationship. My friend Kate called and I told her I was stumped […]
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