Linda, I’ve been thinking about you in “a November anniversary way” since September. I thought of the word “ditto”, since everything I’ve thought and written before still applies now.  It just keeps adding up.

The last several months have been stressful. I know if you were here, there would have been some ongoing way that your words, your humor, would have kept a smile on my face, at least intermittently. You were so good at that…making people feel safe, and loved, and liked.

God knows, I thought by now it might become easier. We were cousins. We didn’t see each other all the time, but even then you were often on my mind.  The difference was that then there was the hope and the promise of seeing you – likely when I least expected it. You were one of the very brightest spots in my life. I knew it then. I realize it X 1000 now.

Sometimes I think that the best part about getting older is that I am also getting closer to seeing you again.  I’m not in a rush to get there.  I’m working on some things.

When I do get there, I would expect to find horses and roses, probably a motorcycle (bet they don’t let you rev the engine), and an organ.  No doubt, you’ve got people laughing, and faces lighting up at the sight of you.  One day, again, one of them will be mine…

Love you, Cousin…