We didn’t have much paperwork left after downsizing for the move here. Thank goodness for that. I’m almost all through it. I need to talk to you about the E-diets menus you printed off, at least a hundred pages, from 2001? I get it. You didn’t want to have to pay the monthly subscription again. And you very much liked the convenience factor of the plan. But, David….!

Yuri is in Maine now. Caitlin tattoos but seems to want to be involved in urban gardening and horticulture. The dogs are a little lost. They lie around close to me all day. Their brains must be vegetating for lack of stimulation. Connor snuggles my left thigh as I write. I can’t tell if he misses you, David. Sometimes I cry looking at him. He was your buddy. I remember how you laughed when he ran like a fool throughout the house bouncing off furniture, stopping only to grab a drink of water. He sleeps on the bed every night still. The other two start off in their own beds but sometimes in the morning I wake to find all three of them cuddled beside me. The chickens are fine. Even the little ones survived.

There is a hum of a sugar barge in the distance. It’s hot and close in the house in the late afternoon.

I need to obtain a Grant of Administration.  I say I’m in no hurry, that I will take my time to decide where to go and what to do. I think about it.