Goodbye, Theodore

Goodbye, Theodore.

You took off on the biggest voyage of all, night before last.  The whole last day of your life, you were unable to talk at all, but the doctor told me to talk to you of happy things.

So I did. I talked--it seemed that we talked--about our whole life together.  The car trips that we both loved so much, big ones and little ones.  The beautiful parks we'd visited, and the beautiful sights we have seen together. The cold rocky seashores of California and Oregon and Washington, the walks in the Sierras and the hikes on Trail Ridge Road in the Olympics... And I told you how much you opened up my life as we lived together. You gave me more gifts than you knew, more gifts than I even realized at the time.  All the joys and all the pains were gifts and we both became stronger in them.

As I spoke, your face would shift and respond, and I felt that you were really participating in the visions I was recalling.  The talking of happy things was powerful; we seemed to be in some shared golden space that encompassed us both. By night I was talked out and you were getting tired.
I am glad we had that day together, Theodore.  Thanks for listening and sharing.  YAZZYBEL