A poem I wrote to Cindy after one of our first dates - sitting together near the water on an autumn Saturday at Deerfield Park in Mt. Pleasant, MI.
Yes, I have indeed dedicated much thought to Cindy since her passing on April 8. I even made a “Cindy” playlist of songs that remind me of her, some new since her passing but most that I played for her as a loving endearment….
“Goodbye My Friend” by Linda Ronstadt; “I Know You By Heart” by Eva Cassidy; “Anywhere We Are” by Nichole Nordeman; “Treasure” by Ruth Fazal; “Angel” and “Broken Together” by Casting Crowns; “Was It This Lifetime” by William Ackerman; “Love In Not A Fight” by Warren Barfield; “The Sweetest Gift” by The Piano Guys; “Where Dreams Are Born” by Douglas Trowbridge; “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor...
So far, 29 songs….
Now, another ending and beginning. While time is nebulous, I willingly participate with most of my fellow humans to use time to measure and mark age and milestones. So as we bid 2019 goodbye, I reluctantly part with the year when I last saw and held my dear Cindy whose name I could attach a dizzying string of glowing descriptors and superlatives.
I know she was trouble for me often enough during our 42 years together including 40 as married partners but for the life of me, those memories now seem lost and forgotten. Only her sweetness remains and the ache of my love for her as she has slipped from my grasp to God’s.
By faith I hold to the assurance that she is safely home, whole and full of a joy that encompasses and consummates our Lord’s purposes for her while enveloping all that she was and is to me and others she encountered in her journey through life. Grudgingly, I trust that her going now was not untimely to God even if difficult, even tragic, for those of us left behind.
So without further adieu, goodbye again my dearest, most precious, beloved Cindy. Until we meet again.
Notes:
Banner Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
“Saturday Shelter” poem by Glenn Trevisan, 10/23/1977