This is a true story and my memoir of a relationship I had with a girl I met in college, Marilyn “Mimsy” Cosic. A chance meeting spurred our friendship, which developed into an intense relationship and a romantic and whirlwind love affair. We made plans, but a  miscommunication caused us to lose touch after graduation. I embarked on a frantic but futile search for her.

Disappointed, I continued my search for her sporadically during the ensuing years but moved on and continued to build my life with a career, a new life, and family. Then answers to my search were revealed in 2001. Her family told me Mimsy had fulfilled her dream of becoming a teacher. She was adored by everybody and was kind, compassionate and empathetic with everyone. However, tragedy and pain interdicted her life. I “visited” her on a summer day in 2001. I was relieved she was at peace and returned to my life with a small sense of closure.

During a near-death experience in 2020, Mimsy appeared to me and continued to haunt my dreams and thoughts afterwards. This caused me to embark on a process of discovery to learn about her life and share her story. My research revealed a remarkable life of trauma, abuse, separation, divorce, being severely burnt in a fire, alcoholism, mental health issues, and even murder. Despite all these misfortunes and mistreatment, she recovered and redeemed herself.

This experience also revealed a Christian college sub-culture of wild, alcohol laced fraternity parties, a culture and religion I was unfamiliar with, evidence of an overcrowded and underfunded mental health system, and concluded with a religious realization of true love, forgiveness, redemption, the afterlife, and salvation.