A Few Days Before the Memorial Walk for Lois Minto

Yesterday, when I sat in my office, my knee scraped against a souvenir left by Lois. It used to be on a popsicle stick - one she gave to me a couple of days before she passed. I didn't know what it was for until months later when I went through her office and found her folder of recent faxes. With every fax she sent from me, I learned, she included a copy of this image.

That was her sense of humor and I loved her for it.

Byron Pigley Krudell.

When my knee hit the paper doll (I taped it to the inside of my desk), I tore its shoulder. My instinct was to throw it away, but I couldn't do it. It's too precious. Therefore, I glued it in a writer's notebook and left it on my shelf. I'm sure, in years to come, I will come to this page again and it will put a tremendous smile across my face.

The leaves are changing and it feels about right for the annual dog walk in Stratford this weekend. October is an honest month and warns us that winter is on its way. I'm closing the page on this image she left behind, but not on the hours and hours of laughter we had together while trying to figure out what our jobs were and what we were supposed to be doing. Busy, yes. But with a clue? No. I think that is why we bonded and became good friends. Eventually, we became neighbors. It was last year during the winter months we really bonded and she will be missed (as will her texts that came from 8:30 pm. to 10 pm. every night)

We take the good, we take the bad, we take them all and there we have:
The Fax of Life. The Fax of Life.