Who'd a' thunk it?

Yesterday was special. Perhaps this was because my friend Bill and I made contact at a level that scared us, encouraged us, made us cry and laugh together. In retrospect, at one point, I can picture the neighbors shaking their heads, convinced that we had lost it. That was about the time Bill unparked the electric wheelchair he had gotten for Margaret and I drove it all over the back yard. Backward, forward, around and around, fast and slow. We even considered going around the block in it, but that event had to be rescheduled for the future. Margaret would have been so pleased! Definitely more class than our dinner at Red Lobster and our trip to Radio Shack.

The activities and thoughts and sadness and joy and wheelchair rides were not attempts to cover up our grieving for a wife or a friend. These things gave the grief substance and helped us to walk through it with hope. Or so it seemed to me as I landed in Huntsville, bringing the visit to an end. Whatever it was, I am grateful for it.