I promise you we'll meet again. Yet not for the reasons you think.
Although it isn't in-person. This time it's a combination of abrupt texts, in the middle of the night, or early enough to spot the deer still lying lightly under the enormous pine tree out back.
Words of wisdom from too much time spent with family of the dead, elderly near the end, dogs with huge lumps overtaking their bodies, breaths of angels hovering nearby waiting to take the hand of the sick. I know these comforting phrases too well. The murmurs of sympathy, startled awareness that this too eventually will pass.
And yet, sometimes, the acknowledgment of empathy isn't taken well. The backlash is deadly to a long-time friendship.
This week, it's welcomed. Revered. Accepted and honored.
For she's gone. Abruptly. Never awakened properly. With a good friend prone nearby. Thank God she wasn't alone, in the dark, in passing.
The microwave heats the cup handle too hot to touch. I forget every time.
I look up and see the three does, in their gentle serenity, gazing out over their forest, in understanding. This is another day to remember her. The day everyone gathers to say farewell. I must be there in Spirit.
Goodbye my darling little Big "A."
Until we meet again.