Old Woman with a Yellow Lab

     I met Hanne when I was working in 2010 for the man who scammed me out of $3,000 and ultimately led to the loss of my home. She was working part-time as his bookkeeper and we found we had common interests in enlightenment. Hanne is a head-turning tall Danish blond with a quick smile and a kind heart. I went with Hanne and her teenage son to spiritual events that in many ways paved the path to my current journey. Hanne’s son Meikel died last Friday after a year-long battle with alveolar rhadmyosarcoma, a cancer that invaded his chest. He would have been 15 years old in August. The chemotherapy was tortuous, the cancer was incredibly painful, and in the end he lost the battle. He was a good, kind, funny, spiritual soul. The world has been robbed of what he would have been.

     I Skyped (is that a verb?) with my friend Amy on Sunday. It was so good to see her while we chatted. I miss our Saturday night conversation over burritos at our favorite restaurant. Let’s see; a woman in her 60s and a woman in her 80s employing amazing technology to connect—probably not what the inventors of Skype envisioned.
     I continue to paint and garden, pick up cigarette butts and dog poop, clean bathrooms and remove palm fronds. In my free time I read and watch television, walk Gracie, and work Sudoku puzzles (my guilty pleasure). My favorite pastime, though, is people watching. This week there is a single’s group in the park. There are at least a dozen, mostly women. They spend an incredible amount of time talking, drinking and eating. I have been invited to join them. Maybe not.     
     I said good-bye to a friend today. He pulled in the beginning of May, towing a 1969 Mustang behind his RV, seeking calm and serenity to heal after deciding to end his marriage. He hired on with the park, clearing brush and tackling the backlog of maintenance and repair jobs. He’s tall and good looking with amazing blue-grey eyes. We both enjoyed working outside, independently, and we became fast friends. I knew it could be only friendship—I’m 15 years older than he is—but while I am very friendly, I don’t let a lot of people into my inner circle and I let him in. We more or less kept track of each other during the day, and it was nice to know he had my back. He helped with some repairs in the Goose and gave me rides into town, and we talked and laughed.   
     Last Tuesday I drove him to Chiefland to pick up a rental car (the Mustang is a work in progress) so he could travel to Georgia to see his soon-to-be-ex to settle some issues and (wait . . .we all know where this is going) they reconciled. I followed him into Chiefland this morning to return the rental car, and he pulled out this afternoon to meet up with his wife in Destin. I cannot believe how much I miss him already.
     I still believe there are no coincidences in the universe. I still don’t know why I am here or what the lessons are that I need to learn. Was I meant to help him? Or was there something he taught me?
     I wish my friend the very best, I really do. I hope someday when he and his wife are old and still in love, they can reminisce about the time in 2012 when they almost divorced and he went to Cedar Key and perhaps he will remember an old woman with a yellow lab and wonder what happened to her.