Received a phone call this morning. The type of call no one likes to receive. A friend passed away - suddenly over the weekend. A strikingly handsome man, deeply sensitive, insightful, and talented. As a Canadian First Nation he took delight in teaching me something new each time we met. His death unexpected - untreated cancer. Right now I don’t want to feel this… a natural response. In 2024 he presented me with this gift that quite frankly left me speechless and deeply overwhelmed. Inside the red cloth is a drum he had made. He wanted me to paint it. I dared not as I thought it perfect as it is. I don’t remember how we even met. He just showed up one day and decided he was going to be my friend from there - he made other friends. I am so grateful that I never dismissed him and that I welcomed his friendship. This unexpected stranger. There were times when he struggled. And when he did we - his friends - simply carried the light for him until he once again could pick up the torch.
A Celtic triad - from one clan to another: Three things follow me toward death: the love I tended with my own hands, truths I dared to speak, and the light I leave in those who knew me.