Seven years ago today I received an early morning phone call from my mom. I know it’s cliche, but it’s the type of call for which you are never prepared.
She had paramedics at her house because my dad had just collapsed from a fatal heart attack. What followed was a busy couple of days helping mom make all the arrangements, and all that wrapped up with a memorial service at the end of the week. Many of my parents’ friends and neighbors attended, some of my childhood and high school friends were there and of course my closest friends from work…except Jodi.
Over the years I (we) have had fun at Jodi’s expense, ribbing her for going to attend a pre-planned work conference at Disney World rather than be at the funeral service. Truth is it’s all good. There are no hard feelings. If at all possible Jodi would have been there with everyone else. She did take time to jot down a few words of sympathy. She was planning to refine it and make it look all nice and pretty on stationery, but I grabbed it before she could make it fancy.
I’ve kept it all these years.
I bring it out every now and then when it’s time to poke fun again about Jodi not being at the service. What you see below is those original words scribbled on a sheet of notebook paper. And yes that is the word “love” that she mistakenly wrote at the bottom before replacing it with “sincerely”.