Dear Beverly

This morning your memory remains within my heart.

         Mi Amor, you remembered me.

Always.  Always.

It was so simple.

Deceptively so.

For months we had talked,

but not about it.  It!

It was the elephant in the room.

You knew it.  I knew it.

I picked you up at your mom’s

and we went to lunch.

You had found a place

called Bella Luna. 

Funny, but you liked saying it,

“Bella Luna, Bella Luna.”  

It was lyrical.

It was in the center

by the freeway

on Ventu Parkway.

We took a place in the corner;

windows to your back

and to your right.

It was a sunny day. 

The sunlight lit the room.

The years hadn’t been kind.

But you remained beautiful.

Your smile; your humor.

The pleasant way about you.

Kind; sweet … and yet guarded.

A black hole on some days.

You had lost everything.

Your home; your painted sunflowers.

The real estate bubble took the condo too.

Your job was gone.  

Now you were living with Fran.

You had been through hell,

but there was still more to come.

The packages of hate

arrived on a regular basis.

The almost daily text messages

and phone calls came

crashing in on you as well.

The nasty emails to you; to me.  

Copies cut and pasted,

Assembled, copied and delivered

by hand or by mail to harass

and to isolate you.

Sick.

With Fran, you were safe.

There we sat

in the corner of the café.

We talked.  We ordered lunch.

We talked about this and that.

And then suddenly you said,

“I made a terrible mistake.”

Even today I can see it clearly,

you saying the words.

The elephant was suddenly loose.

I knew immediately

what you were trying to say;

what you wanted to say.

but it couldn’t be.  

The wall between us

needed to come down. 

We needed peace …

all the years; all the hurt …

it had to go.

I stopped you before

you could go further and said,

“You made no mistakes.”

“You have three beautiful children.”

“They are not mistakes.”

You so desperately

needed to hear the love.

Despite everything,

the outcome was a blessing.

In that moment we were free.

The why of it didn’t matter;

lost to time.

I look back on that lunch.

I look back on that day

when you brought your infant son

to me and the pledge

between us was made.

That day.  That lunch.

They were like dots

connected through time.

Last June’s phone call

was another dot; the last dot

on the pages of our lives.

All connected …

I am blessed to

have known you.

I am blessed to

have called you my friend.

I am blessed to

have loved you; love you still.

I am blessed for

all that I have in my life.

I wish I could change things.

I would change many things.

But you take the blessings with the bad.

That’s life.

On a day; a sunny day

at the Bella Luna

you and I found peace.

I am blessed.

Have a tune for you today 

Last June, "Said goodbye, turned around
And you were gone, gone, gone
Faded into the setting sun,
Slipped away"

... enjoy. 

Link:   Carrie Underwood: See You Again

Said goodbye, turned around
And you were gone, gone, gone
Faded into the setting sun,
Slipped away
But I won’t cry
Cause I know I’ll never be lonely
For you are the stars to me,
You are the light I follow
 
I’ll See you again, oh
This is not where it ends
I will carry you with me, oh
Till I see you again

I can hear those echoes in the wind at night
Calling me back in time
Back to you
In a place far away
Where the water meets the sky
The thought of it makes me smile
You are my tomorrow

I’ll See you again, oh
This is not where it ends
I will carry you with me, oh
Till I see you again

Sometimes I feel my heart is breaking
But I stay strong and I hold on cause I know
I’ll see you again, oh
This is not where it ends
I will carry you with me, yeah yeah

I’ll See you again, oh
This is not where it ends
I will carry you with me, oh
Till I see you again
Till I see you again,
Till I see you again,
Said goodbye turned around
And you were gone, gone, gone.