Dearest Waddles,
Oh the things I've seen and the places I have been this year... from Hawaii to Stonehenge... to everywhere in between. And yet, still none of them compare to the places I went with you beside my side.
And the things that have found this year! Priceless gems like this...
Even my coworkers couldn't hold back the chuckle when they saw that 20 years later you still looked the same. Never really aging (aside from the receding hairline) and even in a picture that looks like an awkward time in life you can feel your energy and contagious laughter.
I heard a poem last week while running errands and was struck by its words and instantly taken to that place up Dirty Gulch with that last set of trees you knew. Odd I'm sure for some to think of but there was just something about them. From the one with the perfect heart to the set of hugging trees it just felt like those would, because of the choices of others, now forever be "Jim's Trees."
Tree Marriage
by William Meredith
In Chota Nagpur and Bengal
the betrothed are tied with threads to
mango trees, they marry the trees
as well as one another, and
the two trees marry each other.
Could we do that some time with oaks
or beeches? This gossamer we
hold each other with, this web
of love and habit is not enough.
In mistrust of heavier ties,
I would like tree-siblings for us,
standing together somewhere, two
trees married with us, lightly, their
fingers barely touching in sleep,
our threads invisible but holding.
Who would've ever thought (yes even now four years later I struggle) that this last picture of you taken on July 4, 2008 would be so symbolic of the turn our relationship would take...
Invisible but holding... always in the background still cheering me on. It gets easier to hear you now but it doesn't make the pain any easier to bear. You've been there to handpick a few experiences for me this year and I couldn't have ever imagined being where I am today without your help and guidance. I miss you so much still. Time passes and people pass through and though you've tried none of them will ever compare to you. I'm thankful for all you've brought to me this year and I really am looking forward to seeing what the future holds. I can't be faulted though for wishing you were still a living part of that future...
Love always and forever,
~ Tara Ann
