My name was written across the envelope in the same hand that had struggled through Larry\u2019s hospice paperwork. When the nurses offered to take over, he always refused. \u201cMy hand still works,\u201d he would tell them. \u201cMostly.\u201d That small joke stayed with me: his quiet way of acknowledging what was happening without surrendering every ordinary thing to it. Now those familiar letters had found me again, tucked into a delivery that otherwise contained nothing more remarkable than bills and advertisements.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
I thought he had written to say goodbye. Larry thanked me for every cup of coffee; leaving without a final word hardly seemed like him. Six days after his burial, I had expected another day of learning to live with his absence. Instead, I stood holding something he had touched, something he had made the effort to write. Before I even opened it, that effort was enough to make me smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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