My family is big on the Chris names. We have Aunt Chris, Christopher and Chrissie (my older sister), and if Lucy had been a boy, she would have been named Christian! Chrissie has played with her version of it for years – she has been Chris, Cris, Chrissie and Christine and she does all of them with charm and grace.

She lives in Hawaii with her partner of many years, Brien Matson (a talented Jazz musician), and has a unique life there. It seems (from what I can see at such a distance!) to be a wonderful combination of simplicity and appreciation. Chrissie, more than anyone I know, is able to find miracles in everyday encounters.

No one on earth has her talent for discovering connections with total strangers, charming everyone she meets into helping her or someone she cares about and making even the most casual exchanges (with the check-out girl or the tollbooth operator or the guy at the ticket counter in a theatre) memorable, fun and sometimes even inspiring.

It’s a gift and a blessing. She loves being alive, and she’s just so good at it!