Process

Yesterday great tribute was paid to Sue on her campus, and I wish I could have attended. Much was said of her contributions to literature. A tape of it all was made and will be sent to me.

Today is her funeral mass, and her soul will be given to whoever or whatever fills the great beyond. I wish I could be there. I am agnostic, and don't know with any certainty what awaits Sue, but her church will honor her good heart and send her on her way. The ashes will come back to me this evening, and I will hold them close.

Last eve, friends gathered at our home, food in hand, and we had a wake, all of them saying goodbye to Sue. I am fortunate in my friends.

Now I will lie quietly, listening to the ritual in some far place, the cadences of the mass for my wife. My yellow roses are lying beside her ashes as the expression of the greatest love I have ever known.