farewell to harry

I would have liked to have known him better.

He would have been 70 years old next month, making him barely three years older than I.

He and Robin met while I was in college in the middle 80's and married while I was still away at FSU in Tallahassee.

They just hit their 36th anniversary.

All I really knew of Harry Jenkins was of him as the love of her life and the co-host and chef for their annual, family-oriented, BYOP parties.

He died of cancer early this morning.

That news is what brought me out into the bitter cold, to be there to give solace and big hugs to my brothers and my sister-in-laws at our usual Friday night haunt.

Laura was raised with Robin, so she knew Harry from the start.

Mary and Robin were neighbors in an apartment complex, so she knew Harry at the beginning of their romance, too.

Robin and Harry met on a blind date.

Amazing, right?

That's exactly how my Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob met.

It was Parkinson's that took away Uncle Bob, but the end result is the same: loss adjustment after decades of togetherness.

My heart goes out to Robin, now, and to Aunt Linda, still.