The fog rolled in heavy and lay across the river, dampening the sounds of the night. The trains signaled their approach far before they reached the crossing, sending an echo through the valley that made me shiver. The morning dawned, chill and gray. Yet the day promised sunshine and warmth. I picked up a friend and headed for the country. We went to Berdine’s Five & Dime and were like two kids in a candy store. She bought several birthday gifts. I bought a couple of things for the camper. We both bought chocolates at the penny candy counter. We went to the old Stout’s Hardware for a paint brush. We stopped at the cemetery on the way to the farm. Last fall I buried a lock of Mr. Virgo’s hair between the headstones in the family plot and marked it with a fork (a nod to his career in food and beverage). I sat on a stone and regaled my friend with fun Mr. Virgo stories, we laughed, and I left him some of my chocolate. We went to the farm and took a whole pickup load of my stuff to the church thrift store. There were a few boxes that I had to pass over as unacceptable emotional territory to attempt to go through yesterday such as items from Mr. Virgo’s dresser. Ultimately, I sent my wedding dress on it’s way. Someone will love it as much as I did. Then we came back to town, went out to dinner, and toasted to great men, brave widows, good friends, and promising futures! It was a beautiful, beautiful day. And thus begins the third year.

❤

“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Mark 6:31