Eerie!

     The OFH is my official and legal residence. Owning a house in Sinai gives me a free post office box in the local Post Office there. Yet, most of my mail arrives at the OFH. The OFH management offers no help with mail that accumulates during an inmate’s absence. A very kind friend came to my rescue. Fearing that mail accumulating in the small p. o. box in the OFH might be returned to sender, he volunteered to collect it. He has a key to my mailbox which he passes to another friend if he absents the OFH. When I return from The Little House he hands over a grocery sack of mail.

    Returning to the OFH yesterday I attended Carolyn Tonneson’s funeral. After the funeral and returning to the OFH I went to collect my mail from the friend who gathers it for me. What did I find in it? A picture and Christmas letter from the Tonnesons. It announced her cancer diagnosis and their plans to move into the OFH, a few doors from me. This is a clue of how fast her demise came.

     Of course I treasure the picture and message. It did prompt another burst of grief. Now her dear husband, Jim, will move here without her, even as he navigates the land of grief. He, too, will live with presence of absence.

Takk for alt,

Al