With a Little Help From My Friends

As we approach the one year anniversary of losing Andrea, December 24th, it is amazing the strength we acquire from our family and friends. The amazing sentiments, words of hope, and prayers of inspiration have truly held us up when we felt we couldn't take another step without her, carried us when we were exhausted with grief, spoke to us when we no longer wanted to listen.

Thank you.

I want to include a poem sent to me by Tony, my friend and fellow writer, who also carries a burden of loss. And I dedicate this to not only Andi, but to all those who have lost a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece, a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, a sister, a best friend, a woman who blessed their days, a dream of spring who bloomed for a time within their lives.

 P'u-Hua Fei Hua

A flower and not a flower; of mist yet not of mist;
At midnight she was there; she went as daylight shone.
She came and for a little while was like a dream of spring,
And then, as morning clouds that vanish traceless, she was gone.

Po Chui
translated by Duncan Mackintosh
rendered into verse by Alan Ayling