I had never heard of that name before as she introduced herself to me on the lunch room line. She was in the 7th grade, I in the 8th. She was a new student, and was very friendly.
Over that year, I got to know Fortune pretty well. A group of us would always sit around the lunch room table and talk about celebrities. She knew just as much as I did (which was impressive). She would even tell us about her family dinners, which sometimes included Lacey Chabert of ‘Party of Five’ Fame. She was a distant relative. Lacey was cool back in the day.
My high school was relatively small. OK, tiny. It had 75 girls in the entire school. Roughly 20 girls for each grade. We were all like one big happy family. Fortune was a year behind me.
When I graduated high school, we lost touch. We reconnected on Facebook about a year ago.
I heard that she married the love of her life about 4 years ago. She was secretly in love with him for years, before they started dating. Everyone was ecstatic.
Then 3 years ago she gave birth to a beautiful son.
Last year, she found out she was pregnant with twin boys.
When she was 6 months pregnant, Fortune was diagnosed with Melanoma. Since she was pregnant, invasive treatment was not an option. I know she did have some sort of treatment done, since during her pregnancy she was forced to wear a scarf around her head. Her hair was falling out. She didn’t tell many people.
Three months ago, I scrolled through her pictures on facebook and saw that she had just given birth to twin boys. Fortune looked radiant and so beautiful in the pictures! I remember wondering to myself how she could be so skinny after giving birth to twins.I sent her a message to tell her (from one mother of twins to another) that it would get easier.
But it wouldnt.
Fortune passed away on Saturday.
Those who weren’t immediately close to her were not aware of the battle she was in.
She was fighting for her life.
She was 27.
When word started making the rounds on Facebook, my mouth dropped and I started shaking.
How could someone so young, so beautiful- a mother of three young boys… just go?
HOW?
You try to rack your brain to come up with some sort of explanation to make sense of it all.
There is no sense.
I know that there is a bigger picture in life, and only G-D knows why, but I want to know: Why G-D?
Why take away a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister?
And my heart aches.
It aches for her husband who now walks his life alone.
It aches for her sons.
The sons that will never have known their mother.
The mother who loved them.
The mother who gave up her life to carry her twins to full term without harming them.
There is a special place in heaven for someone like that.
Her name was Fortune, and she was my friend.
Gemini Girl 
Oh Gemini–my heart goes out to her whole family. And you too.
That is absolutely heartbreaking! Her family is in my thoughts.
It makes me shake with sadness and anger. It is so unfair.
Sweetheart I’m so sorry. Those tiny boys. I don’t understand life.
XOXOX
Oh god, sweetie, I’m so sorry. This makes no sense at all.
Incredibly sad, incredibly scary.
Praying for those left behind.
I love you and you have a piece of my heart with you while you’re grieving for this special friend and her family.
That is just awful. I looked her up on your FB profile…she really was beautiful.
I’m so sorry!! That is horrible.
This just breaks my heart!!!!
This is just devastating. I’m so sorry for your loss, for her family’s loss.
I am so, so sorry. There are no words for how incredibly sad and unfair that situation is. My sincere condolences.
How terrible. My thoughts go out to her, her friends and her family.
I can’t even believe that story. This is so unfair!!
It is heartbreaking and unfair. I’m so sorry for the loss of your friend. so very sorry.