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Saturday, June 25th, 2005

Not a Good Year

Jenifer, my mother in law, died yesterday. She had a massive heart attack at the age of 58. Just like her dad. And she had a stress test not too long ago that said her heart was OK. This was sudden and shocking and…

Devastating.

I love Jenifer more than I’ve ever expressed. She welcomed me into her family with a warmth and sincerity that both delighted and puzzled me. She was the first person beside my husband that I trusted to read my first novel, oh so many years ago. She taught me that being feminine didn’t make you weak.

Jenifer was the most loving, generous, genuine person I have ever known. No one who asked her for help was ever turned away. I never saw her hold a grudge or wallow in any kind of negative emotion. She did even the most mundane tasks with humor, with a light spirit, with joy; that’s probably why every child she met instantly loved her. She saw the world with a well-grounded, real optimism, not just empty platitudes or rose-colored blinders. She was always the strong the one, always ready to step in and help, always knew just what words of comfort to say.

Except now, when we need her the most. Sometimes irony sucks.

Go now in beauty,
peace be with you
’til we meet again in the light.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 25th, 2005 at 6:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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