"... Sad Goodbyes"

December 21^st, 2011



Dearest Kelly

Another hurtful lie

I thought,

when first told that you passed away.
My denial,

an instant barrier to

an emotional year winding down.

But second time told,

I knew it to be true…

You were gone
                and I sobbed like a child.

Now
despondently,

I remain

burdened by so many things

not said to you in person…

along with a grief-laden Goodbye.

Tears now flow on typing hands,
As I pensively pray you hear my sorrowed voice;
these long-ago feelings

I wish you knew

while you were here:

Thank you for coming into my life when you did.

Thank you for listening time after time to my frequent and often pathetic

                        miseries; always offering judgment-free

advice and boosting my self-confidence.

Thank you for your ever-prudent support;

once telling me that devotion can’t be persuasively obtained

                        if you have to blindly jump alone into the deep end
                        of an empty pool,

just to get it.

Thank you for finally showing me the value of trust and respect;

                        as you became roses on a dreary day,

smiles upon despair,

and logic to the blind.

Thank you for letting me make my own mistakes, but comforting me

                        at my low points; telling me that love is a balance

of confidence and insecurity,

and it should always be offered...

even when it isn’t reciprocated.

And for all things said and unsaid,

I thank you.

And although I didn’t get to say Goodbye
before you left,
please know that

you were my friend,

you were loved by so many

and you shall be painfully missed.

And until next we meet,
I shall look forward to gleefully saying again,

Hey Red, how’ve you been?

and we’ll catch up on all you’ve helped me
poignantly realize…

throughout the rest

of my life.

Kelly Marie Pritchard
March 26, 1984 - Dec 15, 2011