A dark day in my life

Today is one of the saddest days in my life as I found out that my best friend in the Netherlands passed away yesterday. I didn't find out until today, because of the time difference and she and I didn't have much friends in common. Her husband thought of noticing me, but was occupied with other things. So I read it on her Facebook page when other people posted RIP messages. 
We met when I was 11 years old and we became best friends. After a few years, she moved away to Amsterdam with her mom. We kept in touch and had sleep-overs during school holidays. When we got older, I would visit for a weekend. We always called each other when there was news, either good or bad. Throughout the years, we both got families and kids and got occupied with our own lives. I moved to the US, which made visiting even harder. But we still kept in touch. She was the kind of friend who didn't need a whole sentence to understand what was going on and I'm sure that worked both ways. We shared our highs and lows.
The last time I saw her was January of last year when we were in the Netherlands. She said she wanted to visit me soon. 
Yesterday she overdosed on pills. Life had become to tough for her to deal with. I hope she has found the peace she so badly needed.

This is a barn swallow that sat in our outdoor kitchen today. It has nothing to do with the story, but it's the only picture I took.