Shaken, Not Stirred

Today I am shaken. My husband's friend lost his wife this weekend. One day she was very present and the next so very absent. Her absence is at this point unexplained but strongly felt.

My heart dropped when he told me. Death is not a stranger but for me he usually knocks first. I ache so badly for this young man left alone far far too soon. They did not have children which to some may be a positive, but like so many of us he not only lost someone he loves very very much, but he lost the promise of life.

He will never see his wife give birth or witness the melding of their genetics into one perfect little being. Death leaves him with only physical mementos, photos, and the questions that accompany a life ended much too soon.

Death creeps in through days, weeks and months and sometimes like the most skilled of thieves he sneaks in when you're not looking and is gone before you know he was there. Today I am shaken by him.