You may hear from Naomi Matsunobu in other ways now that you’ve shared your thoughts…  She would appreciate everything said and would no doubt enjoy catching up with your adventures in life.  I don’t have all the answers, but definitely have a few.  Naomi and I met at the Jewish Community Center in Margate for pre-school and then grew up on the same street in Mays Landing.  Perhaps you had a role in James and The Giant Peach or another play at New School?  They were all fantastic.  She had a lot of fun with you guys.

Naomi is always on our minds and wrote an amazing life story that continues to inspire.  In a simple statement… she lived large.  I can list things out encyclopedia style like… she loved New York City, she traveled around the world for work & discovery, she was an artist and became very skilled at knitting and jewelry making, she thought of others before herself, Naomi was talented in any business she chose and many tried to lure her into a career path… she followed her own, she was more of a city girl then country, she put up with bag pipe music on St. Patrick’s Day… even though she hated it, she introduced us all to the latest & greatest going on in the world… art, music, food, literature, design, fun, life.  Maybe you expected some of these things?  Naomi also got into kick boxing and was training at a gym in NYC.  There’s excellent video around of her sparring.  She had planned to run the NYC Marathon and was running regularly before the big “C” hit while in school again.  It was out of the blue.  She never smoked and was in good shape.  She finished her masters in LA while in treatments and went on to fight like hell for longer then most all thought was possible.  I could go on, but will always remember her most by the feeling of joy surrounding her.  She loved life and shared the best of it with the rest of us.  

There are a few stories you’d enjoy that would be better left off a public posting.  Naomi was somebody you could be your true self around.  She was my sister, though we looked a bit different.  Most of the time we just laughed and had fun doing the most ridiculous things.  She was definitely brilliant, but never took herself too seriously.  She could be incredibly silly and I loved that about her.  We’ll miss her forever.  And as much as I know about her, there is so much more that I don’t.  She still has a big world.  Perhaps we can all share a few stories.  

Thank you for taking the time to post your thoughts.  

Anyone interested, feel free to email me whenever.  szymanski_heather@yahoo.com  Naomi’s parents are in South Jersey still and I’m in touch with some of her other friends from University of Chicago & later.

And yes, I’m making another stab at churning out content at various points, including here. We’ll see how it goes.

Mom

I hope your hand continues to heal and that surgery is not necessary.