18 MONTHS TODAY

18 months today.

And it's as surreal now as it was then.

It seems like my life with Bob started and ended in the same manner.

Circumstances beyond our control brought us together – and catapulted our lives into new beginnings.

My life with Bob started with a blindsiding moment … and my life with Bob ended with a blindsiding moment.

My life with Bob started with a 4-month weaving of a beautiful tapestry, that would lead to a rebuilding and restructuring of our lives – together – for 44 years.

My life with Bob ended with a 4-month unraveling of that beautiful 44-year tapestry, that would lead to a rebuilding and restructuring of our lives … separately … for the rest of our lives.

Circumstances beyond our control brought us together.

Love kept us together.

And circumstances beyond our control ended our life together.

Today while driving home from Kalama ... 
(https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2020/06/sundayfunday-11-kalama-waterfront-walk.html), I could see Bob so clearly: driving that old 2-tone red & white ’56 Ford pickup – his left arm draped casually over the steering wheel, steering the truck with the underside of his forearm as he punched radio station tabs with his right forefinger … cigarette dangling from his smiling lips as he watched our 2 year old daughter stand on the bench seat, bouncing her diapered butt to the music.

The red-white '56 Ford Bob had when we met in 1974.

I don’t know why that image came to mind: I wasn’t thinking along those lines at all. But that image came to mind so suddenly and so clearly, I swear I could smell the cigarette smoke.

I love you, Babe.

Always ~ OX