I bought a 70th birthday card…
and didn’t send it, a silly card
declaring a desire to not grow older.
She was in the hospital on the birthday.
Forty-nine days later she was gone.
Who but a lawyer would think in terms
of the “third degree of consanguinity
or affinity”… but I remained
with one person within that grouping
older than I, two more among the fourth.

Time passes. Death is not the end.
I recently heard a term I like:
in body. Meaning “living.”
But we remain in other ways.
She understood addiction and recovery.
She understood me. And lived
by her principles, avoiding alcohol
no matter what occasion,
how important the people involved
in her life. She knew the meaning of “NO!”
and that other people made their decisions,
she made hers. She knew
what others think of us
is none of our business.
She understood loyalty,
dealing with what you have,
and doing the next right thing.

She lives on. I miss her.
But she’s with me
and I’m with her.