A musing on remarriage

Breakfast this morning with the widower of a friend now nearly four years gone.  He told me he’s getting married in the fall.  Of course, I wished him well and felt grateful that he’d waited this long. Walking home I wondered about loyalty and how to manifest my continuing devotion to the woman and inspiration I miss each day.

This then is that– no names, just the facts.  A woman– so bright, so kind, so present and good– died much too young in a winter that was milder than most.  These years later it is a bright summer day and the world is still rotating on its axis.  We think we are moving on, but actually we are walking in place holding what was, carrying what is and accepting what will be.  I walk with my friend by my side and speak to her here.  There is not one new event that I would have shared with you that I don’t still share.  Even this, even this change that changes nothing and causes me to notice your presence in absence all the more.

A published author and poet, Laura Baudo Sillerman is president of a New York City-based charitable foundation and an active board and committee member for many educational and literary organizations, including the American Museum of Natural History, The 92nd Street Y Poetry Center and Poet's House.

Tweet