I’ve given most of Mr. Virgo’s clothes away. I still have some things that really remind me of him that I want to keep. A shirt. A couple of sweaters. His glorious leather bomber jacket that I wear sometimes that still smells of tobacco and Halston. I’m not sorry I gave those things away. My closet space doubled and that was probably the easiest of all the adjustments I’ve had to make this year.

Several years ago, Mr. Virgo got it in his head that he wanted to learn to play blues guitar. Next thing I knew, there was a beautiful Ibanez guitar with a hard case and an amp living with us. Alas, try as he might, the arthritis in his hands kept him from playing. The guitar hung in our dining room for a few years and eventually made it into a closet. There it stayed…till last Friday.

I don’t play well but if it had been acoustic, I would have kept it. I would have tried again to learn. There is an alternative high school here that has a wonderful music program. I love the students and their teacher. I decided to donate the guitar and amp to them.

I delivered it to the school Friday. A beautiful, talented young man tuned it up, plugged it in, and started playing a song for me. I cried. I told them about this epic love story and they cried.

It was a beautiful day.