Dear Jenny

 Death seems so distant until it reaches your door. Everything seems to stop as you process that reality. The one you knew and loved, the one you laughed and shared with, is gone, silent forever. 

 My daughter in law Jennifer, Jenny as we called her, went to her final rest on the 22nd. There are no words to express the shock, the grief, and the impact. She was just forty-eight years of age. A life shortened by infirmary, she did struggle in life and it's my fervent prayer that she finds rest. For my son a new chapter begins, one I'm certain he had hoped to never see. There is little I can do for him but offer a shoulder, someone to lean on, and someone to encourage him forward. His daughter Shyann, my granddaughter is surely devasted. In college her life is just beginning, and this is a heavy blow to absorb. 

 Jenny said goodbye to her own parents over the last few years, each passing leaving a deep wound indeed. Her siblings offered whatever comfort they could in their own ways. When the arrangements have been made, we will travel to be with our son and his daughter. Little enough is it we can do. Beyond the grief and sorrow there are practical matters to be concerned with. It's very difficult to be clear headed and handle such things at this time. Material and financial issues seem so irrelevant yet impose themselves at every turn. All it does is add to the anguish of such a tragic loss.

 Whenever we lose one that we knew and loved it is like an intermission in our life. Everything comes to a halt. You are given time to process all that has taken place. At the same time, you realize the curtain will open and life must go on. I'm not certain you can change the outcome, but it is a chance to rewrite the script. The best you can do is change your character, if that is what you feel needs to be done. Feelings of guilt are the usual culprit in that scenario. The things we could have said or done. Death gives us pause. And that is my belief. Death is but a pause in life, an intermission. It's true for us and true for those having passed. Rest Jenny, rest peacefully in the knowledge you will not be forgotten. You are still in the play we call life, a part of all that knew and loved you.