I received a Christmas letter today and a picture of my friend Ellie fell out as soon as I opened the envelope.
You can immediately see the problem with this picture. The second set of dates. That set of dates usually means the person has died. What? What?
My mind can't really comprehend this. What can this mean? Inside is note from her husband, looks kind of like the Holiday Letter that I usually received from Ellie.
But it's not.
He writes:
This letter brings hard news. My dear Ellie passed away November 17th after a brief illness.
He does go over news about his children and about trips that he and Ellie had taken this year. For a long time, he had worked some days during the week in the Seattle area returning on weekends to the town in eastern Washington where they had moved a built their 'dream house'. At the bottom is a picture from one of the trips, an amusement park. Rick's on the roller coaster, going down.
Died after a brief illness? What? What? What does that mean? Ellie's only 55.
We weren't in contact a lot. In recent years, she would send out the Christmas letter. Often she would write a note on the bottom with something on her mind about her family, her children and want to talk about it. We would have a flurry of emails and phone calls. About difficult issues, usually about adult children by adoption. Who almost always present with challenging situations. A few years ago, the two families got together for a meal in a restaurant.
Ellie had embraced her new home in a small town. She worked tirelessly especially for the library. I will write a note to her husband and sent a contribution to the Oroville Library Fund. I'll do it now.
So I present the picture of Ellie Braman. It's a good picture, Ellie looking straight into the camera; direct and clear. Having a good time, looking forward.
Peace to all among us.
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