For Becky

Dear John,

 

A reminder from your social secretary: Be sure to tell Kyle happy birthday today. I'm not sure that "today" has any meaning in Heaven. If not, you can tell him for me since I'm still stuck where there are todays.

 

I've been remembering when the four of us were dating in college. I'm so very glad that none of us knew what our futures would hold. If we know pain is coming, we humans tend to experience it in advance. None of us would have believed that you would out-live him by over twenty years. Knowing us, Becky and I would have done nothing different even if we had known everything from the beginning. All that we regret is that you two forgot to take us with you.

 

There are things about those years that stand out in my memory - the snowstorm when we all hung out in your dorm room because Larry had Pong, that delightful variant version of Happy Birthday that they taught us, our weddings, and of course the fact that we drove through blizzards to get to their wedding and his funeral. But what I remember most about Kyle is the way he looked at Becky.

 

I know he still looks at her that way. So go sing the variant Happy Birthday to him, and tell him that I said to thank him for loving my friend so much. And both of you, leave the light on for us. We're coming as soon as we can.

 

Adore you,

Joan.