Yesterday morning I discovered a handwritten letter to me from R in the sketchbook his sister had sent last summer. R had used the sketchbook to communicate after he had the brain stem stroke in September 2007 which left him unable to speak. When the sketchbook arrived, I had looked carefully at all the pages, many of which were blank. Somehow I overlooked one page. In January of 2008, I had received two letters from him -- both handwritten by a nurse who had edited and embellished his thoughts with her thoughts. As I had read those letters, I could hear her voice more than his. In the letter I found yesterday, I can hear his voice clearly once again. A generous and moving gift from R.
After I found his letter, most of yesterday was spent with renewed energy for working on my book of drawings and paintings and poetry influenced by his presence in my life. Just before sunset at 4:17, I glanced up to see extraordinary golden light on the cottonwoods to the northeast and on the foothills beyond. If you click on the image, you'll see the bald eagles' nest, too. I remembered R's mother telling me that R's first word when he was a baby was "Light."
