Seven years ago today, after relieving the night nurse at 6:00 am., I asked Joanne "What's special about April 12?" She shrugged her shoulders. Three and a half hours later she died. Fortunately there was time to gather the family around her as breathed her last breaths.
Today a friend asked what that absence is like. "Initially it was like a knife in the ribs. Gradually that morphed into the dull ache it is today" I replied. Of course I miss her. Ironically that absence is often most acute at family times. That's because those times with the family are illustrative of what she's missing with them. Family was terribly significant to her and now she's missed seven years of growth in our granddaughters and so many family moments. That reality is what brings my grief to the fore more than anything else.
Losing her illustrates the great gift she was in my life. In the midst of the grief there is also profound gratitude for having 53+ years with her. As friend remarked today "She was an extraordinary woman." Amazingly she loved me!
Takk for alt,
Al
Joanne with the granddaughters while she was in home hospice care.
One of my favorite pictures of Joanne, that, in a larger size, graces my desk.
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