Karen the editor's page.

As anyone at GL will tell you, this page is always the last to get done. Procrastination? Maybe. But it's more like I wait to get the vibe of the whole issue before I decide what to write about. This being summer, I usually pick something light and fun. Not so much this issue. It takes about a month to print and get this magazine to you (thanks, U.S. Postal Service, for that lightning-fast three-week delivery).

So I am writing this the night of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, the worst shooting in our country's history. The loss at VT is unfathomable and unprecedented. I can only imagine the heartbreak, fear and loss of surviving students. More than imagine, maybe.

My freshman year of college, I lived on a floor with 28 other girls and guys. To be honest, we drew the housing short-straw. We were stuck in an annex thing all by ourselves. So, needless to say, we all became pretty tight. The summer after my sophomore year, I headed to New York for a job at Rolling Stone. I pretty much felt like I had the worn by the tail. While none of the 28 ad come with me, they loved to hear about life in the "big city." I went to a school where knocking over cows was the most fun you could have on a weekend (don't try this at home).

Then, one Sunday morning, the phone rang. It was my friend Becca. Her boyfriend Jay and two of our other friends from the floor had been hit head-on by a drunk driver. Jay was brain-dead (his parents courageously kept him alive long enough for organ recipients to be found), and the other two died instantly. I'd never known anyone my age who died. I didn't even know how to react to one friend dying, no less three. I don't really remember much about that time other than the funerals and planting trees in their honor. It seemed so unreal J went back to New York and tried to get on with things. Jay's girlfriend insisted we all keep going. The guys would have wanted it that way.

But three months later, days before Christmas, the phone rang again. This time, it was another friend from my floor: "Turn on the TV." I clicked on CNN. I saw a smoldering plane wreck and reporters talking about a terrorist incident. Pan Am 103 had exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. Thirteen of my friends had booked that flight to return home after studying in London. How could this happen?

After an all-nighter of phone calls, 12 of my friends were accounted for. Some had flown out early to avoid the holiday rush; others' parents flew over to enjoy a European vacation with their kids, so they stayed on. All were safe...except Tom. Tom was on the flight Tom who lived on the hall freshman year. Four friends gone. In four months. None of that even compares to what happened at Virginia Tech. That said, I do know what it's like to live on after losing friends in the most senseless ways. It's been a long time, but I still think about those guys and what amazing people they were.

Such tragedies make us all a bit more anxious about the world we live in and how fast things can change. So is there any lightness to this story? Maybe this: Throughout life, whether we know it or not, our friends are always with us, even when they are no longer here.

KAREN"S TIP OF THE MONTH

I can't make it through the summer without.

My silver Jack Rogers. Pair them with jeans and a white top, and you are ready for a night out. Jack Rogers, $85, navajosandals.com

A super-cute ribbon belt. I don't feel dressed without one. Top It Off, $36, topitoffaccessories.com

This self-tanner constantly fools people like no other brand I've tried. Fake Bake, $27, fakebake.com

Each summer I get a new tote. Here's this year's pick! Ann Veronica, $60, annveronica.com