Julie invited us into her circle of light

(To me, this image relates to what Julie radiated--mother, wife, friendship, empathy, and luminosity: it documents our December 2016 Santa Lucia celebration--a Scandinavian winter tradition where we practice empathy for others by bringing song, light, and a baked goods called Lussekatter to neighbors. Seth is even dressed in the shirt I brought him from Norway, which that riffs on the Norwegian hit "What does the fox say"!).

My name is Nina Eidsheim and I am posting this on behalf of myself, by husband Luis Fernando Henao, and our son Nicolás.

To Tony: We love you and Seth so very much and have thought about you two every minute since we learned about Julie’s passing. We will keep you in our thoughts and hearts in the same way as Julie and you (and Seth and your families) have helped make Los Angeles home to us. While I've only known Julie for about 6 years, and she had lifelong friends who were much closer to her than I was, to me she was one of the few people I allowed to get close to me after arriving in Los Angeles. I will forever be grateful for her kindness, openness, generosity, intelligence, humor, and warmth. I hope that over the years, you—Tony and Seth—will allow us to share with you our friendship and love.

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While I work and Julie took her PhD at UCLA, we never crossed paths there. We met through a mutual friend and connected over the passing of that very dear friend, and later, our shared joys and challenges of being parents and professional women. We developed a practice of writing in each others’ company. Over the last five years, we did so daily or weekly, as our schedules allowed. Doing so, I supported her through completing her dissertation—Tony named me her dissertation doula—and she supported me through my tenure process.

Throughout those years, there were also thanksgiving dinners, birthday parties, and other big and small life events—including Seth’s birth. The consistent was Julie’s dedication to her family and friends, health, her charisma and charm, her professionalism, and her kindness and care. My family and I will be forever grateful Julie invited us into her circle of light. I commit to keeping that light vibrant by every day trying to be a bit more like her.