THIS TIME OF YEAR still hits me hard. It is the anniversary of the death of my best girlfriend, Angel, who died too young and left an Angel-shaped hole in my life.

“Can it be six years?” I ask my husband, Peter, in disbelief. Angel died at 50 years old, six years ago.

In the years since she died, I have tried to fill the spot she occupied without success. I expect new friends to be like Angel, and t…