Sad

 I apologize for my extended absence from my blog. I hadn't realized how much time had gotten away from me. 

Today's post isn't about my latest book, review, or writing. No, today I pay tribute to someone very dear to me, fellow author P.D. Singer. 

Pam and I met on a fanfiction site around 2005, struck up a friendship, and online friends became "visit you at your house" friends. We goaded each other into writing our first books, and held each other's hands through waiting for responses from publishers, revamping rejected books, and celebrating the good times. I've not published a single story that didn't get her seal of approval, and I did the same for her. She was my writing partner, my friend, and my sister of the heart. 

We saw each other at conventions, author events, and just because we wanted too. Four years ago she acted as an attendant at my wedding. 

We didn't know anything was wrong until mid-August, when she experienced a seizure. Several days and many tests later it was discovered that she had stage four metastatic breast cancer. 

I was able to visit with her before she passed. We shared stories of our times together, chatted about writing, and agreed we'd have more adventures one day..I held her hand as I had many times before, and just tried to be there for her. 

She lost her battle with the formidible enemy on October 1, two days after I returned home. 

People handle strong emotion many ways. I release my feelings with words, in particular, peotry. The stronger the emotion, the more the words pour our of me. This poem wrote itself in four minutes, the day I purchased my plane ticket to visit her one last time.

The Road

I set my foot upon a road

Which should have been a thrill

Dreading every step I took

Sun couldn’t chase the chill

At journey’s end I knew I’d find

Someone I loved so dear

To hold their hand and ease their mind

While blinking back my tears

When you meet someone for the first time

You don’t know what will come

You might smile and nod and walk away

Or family they’ll become

You anticipate the happy days

Together brave the bad

And in the end look back and smile

For the good times that you’ve had

You never thought you’d say goodbye

The road would end like this

With stinging eyes and breaking heart

As you give them one last kiss

For those of you who are fans of PD's Mountain series, she left me with three more Kurt and Jake stories to publish.

Rest in peace, my friend.
x