Home in Connecticut and Sending Neighborly Love to the Kolbusz Family. My Chin Continues to Lay Low with Respect for the Universe

Glamis and I made it home from Syracuse to Stratford in 4 hours and 27 minutes. It was much better than the 5 hours it took to get there. She and I listened to the writing of Ibi Zoboi and Tiffany Jackson on the way home. I finished one book, and started another.

Last Friday, as I was leaving to CNY, my neighbor's son, Paul, came over to tell me that his father, Jozef, passed away peacefully. Born on August 27, 1920 and living until August 27, 2019, he had 62 years of marriage and 90 years of life. He was a wonderful neighbor, although ever since I've met him, he's needed the love and support of his wife, Krystyna. They both are from Poland and have wonderful, beautiful children and equally as spectacular grandchildren.

For the last five years, Jozef has loved as Glamis and I come home from walks and stop on his porch for rubs, licks, and kindness.  A few times, Krystyna has had to come over seeking her panicked help as Jozef has fallen. He has always been a smile, a handshake, and an absolute saint, working with his wife in the yard, even though I know it has been hard for the both of them.

When I returned from Syracuse, I baked them a cake and brought it over. "It's the least I can do. Drink it with your coffee as you figure out next steps."

The goal is to they will go to Poland for a couple of months and see that he is respected in his home nation. As I visited last light, I realized how sad Krystyna's hard is. She, too, is almost 90 and although a garden warrior and Statford Queen, it's going to be harder without her husband of 62 years. She hopes to return in a couple of months and her son, Paul, thinks she'll choose to be in Connecticut, rather than her apartment in Poland.

His lost reminds me of the years that the Walsh family was there for my grandparents on Milford Street in Hamilton, New York. For so many years, they were there for them in similar ways that my grandmother Vera had love and support from her own neighbors.

This is life. This is the circle. This is the hard part and the sadness, but I will do my part to show love, concern, and care while I can,

I just feel really bad for my neighbors. They have worked very hard to build their garden, their flowers and their lawn.  They've been wonderful to me and I hope I am acting wonderfully to them.