A greatful but sad heart

It’s my birthday and I sit in a quiet house, Linda off to the last day of school, the girls (who are home !)are sleeping quietly, Cheese-it (my cat) is curled up on my lap and I just took the lastsip of morning coffee. It rained last night for the first time in many days and the air is cool. I just visited Tom’s website and found a surprise waiting for me; Aeden posted snippets of an old album of Tom and Gwen’s and I listened curiously …..what a lovely gift for my birthday, Tom songs I’ve never heard before. I am grateful…..thank you Aeden.
I arrived home from Anacortes last night and was filled with gratitude for being here and the many blessings surrounding me. As the evening lengthened I took my guitar, so rarely played these days and sat outside and sang a little bit. I was feeling so emotional…… I don’t think I made it through a single song. I kept thinking of Tom and my eyes would fill with tears and my heart ached. I haven’t done much crying in a long time and I could tell as I felt the tears well up inside me. Each song had a memory or two or three with it and I would choke up part way through it. …..I am grateful beyond words for those memories; I hope I will never forget them…... I am a very lucky man.
My love goes out to all of you who are likely going through the same kind of things as we approach the first anniversary of Tom’s passing. It’s been a long year.