Dear Alessa –

Thank you for your kindness.

My friend who made the comment doesn’t live near me. I have seen him once in the last eight years, when I took my first vacation after my wife died. I stayed with him and his wife for a few days, they are about 25 years older than me. We communicate almost exclusively over e-mail. He has never been here or to my other home, though I have invited him, so he doesn’t really know the landscape.

My fear is based on how long I can keep my spirits elevated in a rather lonely life. So all can really do is live one day at a time. Tonight was an evening I normally look forward to, of ministry in my community, but I was unable to do it because of obligations driving my child to and from a performance.

With gratitude –

Omyk