~Good Friday through Easter Sunday~
Early Easter Sunday morning my loving friend, Pat, passed away. 
And I will miss him so much! He is the kindest, sweetest, loving man I’ve known. 
I’m so thankful for the beauty and goodness he brought into my life.
There are so many beautiful memories.
This last year of COVID-19 isolation was difficult for those of us above the age of 75. While he was in a long-term care facility and I was in my own apartment, we made a commitment to talk with each other on the phone every day and give each other the support and encouragement we needed to make it through. Our daily conversations helped both of us through the uncertainty of this pandemic and we grew closer. I was able to visit him over the course of the year and we were relieved to have finally gotten vaccinated. Spring was coming! Soon we’d be able to get outdoors in the sun and make more plans to be together.
The year before the pandemic hit was filled with good memories. I’d known him for quite awhile, from a distance, and finally we were brought together while in physical therapy. I was drawn to his sweet and kind ways. Our relationship grew and I believe we found each other at the right moment in time.
COVID-19 didn’t win in this case. Our worst nightmare was that one of us would wind up on a ventilator isolated from family. That didn’t happen. A stroke and pneumonia worsened in the hospital and he died peacefully with loved ones by his side. I was able to be with him and tell him how much he meant to me.
I was given this gift of having him love me and being able to love him. Because of that my heart has broken wide open with love. It hurts to have him gone and I’ll miss him yet it’s a different kind of broken heartedness. Knowing him has raised me up.
It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth — and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up —that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had. ~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross~
(Now, more than ever, I’m realizing this. Now, today, I woke up to another beautiful day, realizing that, once again, you’re not in it.}
