On Wednesday, June 4, 2008, I and many other people lost a good friend.  Harriet McBryde Johnson of Charleston, SC died that morning.  Why am I writing this letter now?  July 8, 2008 would have been Harriet’s 51^st birthday. 

 

I am very happy that Harriet was born and lived for almost 51 years!  Some people believe that infants with disabilities should not live.  I strongly disagree with that belief!  Harriet had Muscular Dystrophy and I was born with Cerebral Palsy.  Harriet and I were glad that our parents gave us the opportunity to grow up, to graduate from college, have careers and to become middle-aged women.

 

Harriet and I met at a camp in Southern Pines, NC in the summer of 1970. She wrote her novel Accidents of Nature about a fictional camp.  Some of the experiences in her book were similar to our experiences.  Harriet and I began a long friendship even though we had different interests.  Harriet liked to draw and to read political books even when she was 13 years old. At camp I liked to ride horses and swim. Harriet drew a picture of the pond at camp while I rode in the canoe.  Even when Harriet was a teenager, she was not affected by peer pressure.  She lived her life her way and she died her way (in her sleep). 

 

I have often said that I wished that I had one fourth of Harriet’s intelligence.  She was the most intelligent person that I knew and yet she was always interested in my opinions. She made a great impact on my life as well as influencing other people’s lives.  Many people have described Harriet as a blunt but interesting writer, a civil rights lawyer, an advocate for people with disabilities, a rebel, a remarkable woman, etc.  She was all that and much more.  The word that I use to describe Harriet is FRIEND!  We shared our hopes, dreams, disappointments and heartbreaks with each other. I had the privilege of knowing Harriet when she was happy and when she was sad.

 

Even though Harriet lived in South Carolina and I lived in North Carolina, she and I stayed in touch for almost 38 years. We visited each other a few times.  Before we had computers, Harriet and I would type or write to each other.  In the last one and a half decades we would send each other emails. In reading her letters, emails, published articles and books, I felt like I could see, hear, feel and smell whatever Harriet was describing.  She had a talent with words even as a teenager and she used her writing talent to make the world better in her lifetime and for years to come through her writings.

 

In the past few years Harriet and I would call each other for our birthdays. This year I will remember Harriet on her birthday and I will always treasure my friendship with Harriet!

 

Norma Mangum