1985

This weekend, I'm back in New Jersey, spending time with a dear friend who just lost his wife to cancer. My friend, and his beloved wife, went to Villanova with me. Many of the people I shared four years of college with came to the services last week.

In the midst of this tragedy, I experience not only a near suffocating sadness, but a sense of profound gratitude. I am grateful that these people who I so deeply love are still a part of my life. Grateful that I have retained the core of the man they loved all those years ago, and become so much more. Grateful that I am in a place where I can so freely give my love and attention to these wonderful people. And most of all, grateful that they choose to give it so freely to me.

Here is a picture of a few of us back in 1985. The dude on the far left, Kevin, we lost just a few years ago to a stroke. But he is still with us. As is our beloved AnneMarie, who we just lost last week.

If I had just one wish from a magic Genie, it would be a simple one. I would wish to stay as physically and emotionally and as mentally and as spiritually connected to all the people I love in my life for the rest of eternity. I know I can never get that wish, but I can do everything in my power to make it come true for me for as long as I am alive on this earth. And part of that means posting pictures like this and proclaiming, from the bottom of my heart, and with every cell in my body, how much I Love These People. And How Much I Always Will.