The first year of widowhood is a lot of not only firsts but lasts as well. This is the last card Dave ever bought me on one of our favorite days – Valentine’s Day. We celebrated every year with visits from the Valentine’s Day bunny, who usually brought flowers and chocolates. Invariably, it was his favorite chocolates, not mine! He knew they were his to eat anyway.

He didn’t buy me a birthday card the following month because he couldn’t get around very well then. He was on the stairs crying because he never ever missed buying me a card, in 30 years.

Back to this card. Two years later I flew up to Rockland, Maine to see my new budding love, Jeff, for Valentine’s Day. We had been apart for all of a week. That morning, before my flight left, this card popped up in the TOP of my nightstand drawer! Mind you, it had gone through a couple of moves since Dave died. He signed it, “Forever and a Day” but I didn’t get that extra day; I only got forever.

My friend Brooke called these “Godwinks from Dave” and I do believe it.

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