Life after Beth

My late wife, Elizabeth Donovan, died on August 21, 2015. In Orthodox praxis, one traditionally mourns for a period of forty days. I thought it best to follow that practice by keeping silent on my weblog, save to announce Beth’s funeral service. That forty days ended yesterday.

Having lost my first wife, Carolyn, to cancer some twenty two years ago, I am more accustomed than I would like to be to mourning. More than anything else, the loss of a spouse, at least in my experience, is rather like an amputation, both in that a part of you is now missing, and also, that part remains in the memory, if only as a phantom ‘limb’. So it goes.

It seems, though, that these forty days have been more of a digging out from under a disaster. First, there was the funeral, which required the help of many people. I am grateful for that help, because I could not have gotten things or people together except for them. For all of those who came to the funeral, and for all of those who brought something to Beth’s party, thank you. You all made it a beautiful send off for Beth.