Dear Lucy, 

Everybody told me then not to be upset, that you had the best of life, that keeping you dignity, wit and near perfect health until age 102 and fading away in just a few months was your best blessing.  Yes, I suppose they are right. But almost a year later I still miss you and that weird certainty that you were immortal and mine to keep forever.

Thank you for twelve years of pure friendship, the coffee in the mornings, and the scotch in the afternoons.

Thank you for sharing with me those amazing second-hand tales of the US Civil War that your grandfather told you – I wish I had had a tape recorder.

I wanted to tell you that I am now an American Citizen. You would have been so proud of me, had you gotten to know.

I hope that I can age with half the health, grace, class and friends that you had and I will forever miss you.

With all my love,

B, age 40