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Month: August 2018

August 2018

Life and Death Stories

The stories kept coming. For two hours a non-stop stream of people paid their condolences to the young widow as she stood in front of her wife’s slate gray coffin covered with white lilies and white roses. One by one they told their story of meeting, what meant the most, and the loss they grieved. After the visitation, the stories continued on the back patio with the sound of August cicadas and more than one bottle of wine selected from the cellar without care as to whether it was the finest or the cheapest. “Remember the time when she…?”  “How
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Regret – Part 2

The handwriting immediately made me choke up.  Her beautiful calligraphy stretched across the page in perfect lines.  It was short and sweet.  The notes for me, and each of my daughters pulled from an envelope marked “Passing On Papers.”  After my Aunt Suzy’s death, her husband found them in her nightstand.  My mom waited until we arrived for our annual trip to the Oregon coast to give them to us in person. Earlier this year, when my aunt passed away, several months before anyone anticipated with her health challenges, I was struck reeling with grief and regret.  I had left
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