October 13, 2020
Dear Gene,
I love you. Happy Anniversary, my sweetheart!
I miss you very much and wish you could be with me now,
with your feet in the sand, holding my hand.

Life without you is numbing.
I’m always wondering if you’ll be coming
Through the door, asking if I missed you.
As I always did.

Why did you beguile me so?
Why did your smile light up everything around you
even though your eyebrows raised in mischief?
Your eyes reflected me, loving me.
Your arms crept up behind me, enveloping my soul.

Then the kiss, always tender, sometimes quick, so unforgettable.
We said “I love you” when we came and went.
But on your last day, there were no words, just a fading spirit,
whose absence I could not detect until the snow fell on your resting place,
heaven-sent.

White was the cemetery where we walked Jake, for the last time, just
one week before.

Today, I am feeling old and closer to God.
I sit in the sand alone,
listening to the waves break before me.
I’m sun-drenched and melancholy,
hoping you can hear my thoughts
as I ask again and again:
Where are you, Gene?
Love,
Julianne