kiss from a rose: not your typical anniversary celebration

 



Today is the anniversary of a death that happened a long, long time ago, and that was probably the single most important event, or at least, turning point, in my life. The time and circumstance of his showing up, the unfolding of relationship, the dying—all within the short space of a year and a half. Unless of course you count the decades it took me to come to terms with his dying.

It was only a year and a half ago that I first managed to write anything at all about how I was affected by that death. Much more recently I was finally able to write about the rest of it, a wider perspective on the living and the dying and the relationship, and about the important role it played in my life as a whole. The healing, when it came, took place on so many levels, extending into other relationships and events I’d struggled all my life to understand. It is only now, today, that I truly see the magnitude of the gift he gave me—today, while tears of gratitude and joy sweeten the oceans of sadness I fed over the years.

I had thought of posting Seal’s video "Prayer for the Dying," but then again, this is a tribute to life, not death, and besides, Al never was dying. He was very much alive, so much more alive than most people I’ve known. He was vibrantly alive until the moment his heart stopped beating. So how about this then?