Nine years.
The passage of time is a fuzzy thing. Things happen in life. Everyday something happens. Our days are marked by the accumulation of events. Like episodic television, years gone by are like seasons. And events recalled are as stories often prompted by "you remember the one when....?"
And sometimes there are events that are watersheds. Nothing going forward will ever be as it was. Everything is filtered through the reality of that moment in time.
April 17 is one of those days.
It's not like today is the gratuitous "remember Jimmy" day. There's something about him I remember every day. I look at my middle kid's facial expressions from time to time and I'm stopped in my tracks.
Today, nine years later...my awareness of loss is revisited...loss of what was, and loss of what will never be.
As traumatic as that day was for my family and me, a day like none other in our lives, what I marvel at today, nine years later, is how we are getting through it.
There were agents of grace dispatched to stand with us that day and the days that followed. You held us close and "Lifted us to the Light" when we didn't know which way was up. Some stand with us still. For that I'm thank-full.
For those who knew him...remember a story (there are plenty to choose from), raise a glass, and laugh.
And those of you who didn't....you know the phrase "force of nature?"
He's the standard by which all others are compared.
