Meri

Barely six months ago I posted about my dear friend Meri's husband Ryan being diagnosed with cancer.  Let's make it clear, I have never met Meri but her name and those of her family, and indeed dog, are mentioned in my home as though they live just down the street.

In terms of the DOC (Diabetes on-line Community) they do live just down the street.

They have four boys, the three youngest of whom have Type 1 diabetes.  

And last Sunday morning Ryan passed away.  

The impossible happened.  

The unimaginable.

And what do I write?  

Where is the Hallmark card for this one? 

Today Meri and her boys and extended family laid Ryan to rest and celebrated the lovely family man that he was.

In every word she ever wrote about him Meri loved him so dearly.  

They were together twenty years.

So, my default when stuck for words is to look to the words of my six year old boy.  

To Frank, whom Meri knows and whose sweet face she often mentions.

Frank calls funerals "festivals" and this is where I choose to go:

Today was the Festival of Ryan. 

A man remembered with such love and joy.  

A man never to be forgotten by those who adored him.  

This evening as I put Frank to bed we stopped to take in the beautiful pink and blue of this early autumn sunset and I thought of Ryan and the joyful heavens.

And of Meri and her four boys, who need much love and support as they step forward along the fork in the road they had never expected to walk.

May the road rise up to meet them.