Saturday, September 1, 2018

the year since Jerry left us

Sunday, September 9:  the one-year mark of the day when Jerry -- my partner, lover, best friend -- gave up his fight with brain cancer and passed into his next adventure.  While since that moment there has been no day with zero tears for me, he sends me messages -- through monarch butterflies, cardinals, dreams, and pennies from heaven -- letting me know that somehow somewhere he is okay.  I sure would rather have him right here with me.

Some people have asked me how I plan to observe that one-year anniversary (is "anniversary" the right word?).  The purpose of this note is to answer that question and to invite my friends and others who loved Jerry to share that day of remembrance with me.
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First, back to Bach:  September 9 will be a Sunday, so I'll be going to my church in the morning, and it will be Rally Day, which happens to be my favorite Sunday of the church year.  Rally Day comes the first week after Labor Day, which is of course the unofficial end of summer.  Morning services tend to be scaled down during the summers, when a lot of people are off up north at their lake cabins or on vacation or taking a break wherever.  But on Rally Day, the church year starts over.  It is sort of a "comeback" day.  The choir is back, all is refreshed and normal.  And my favorite part -- the tradition at my church -- the organist/choirmaster Philip Brunelle plays as the prelude Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor on the amazing Plymouth pipe organ.

Feel free to join me at this service.  In fact, I'd be honored to see you there.

My church (very liberal, yet traditional, as I am):  Plymouth Congregational Church, Nicollet and Franklin Avenues in Minneapolis.  The service begins at 11, but, if you come, be sure to be there soon after 10:30 to hear the Bach prelude!
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Next, a sort of open-house at my home:  Starting at about 1 p.m. until probably into the evening, I would like to open up my house for friends and Jerry-fans to stop in and say Hello and/or hang out as they wish.  It will be no big deal, no RSVPing necessary, just a celebration of normal life.  You can bring a snack if you like (or not) and maybe we'll order some pizza or something.  The Vikings game will be on the TV off in the background, and, weather-permitting, we can drift outdoors Creekside.

If you don't know my address in Golden Valley, please messenger me or call me or something, and I'll get it to you.

Ideally, it will be one more day to remember Jerry's phenomenal life and -- for me, maybe for you -- to try to figure out how to emotionally maneuver the upcoming second year of him being gone.
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September 9, 2018.  Who knows.  Maybe it will be some sort of Rally Day.

Jerry & me:  Dublin, Ireland, February 2016