Three months ago, the man said

goodbye to his twelve-year-old

Chocolate Lab who died in

the man’s wife’s arms.

 

A week ago, the man said

goodbye to the congregation

he could no longer attend

in good conscience.

 

Two days from now the man

will travel to Chicago to say

goodbye in a eulogy to a

friend who committed suicide

 

on the thirtieth anniversary of

his friend’s father’s suicide.

This day the man sat in a

deli dining area of a local

 

grocery store eating a fresh

salad he put together at the

salad bar when a friend who

he hadn’t seen in five months

 

because they winter in different

places sat down. The man just

started to cry and his friend not

knowing anything, except about

 

the dog’s death, but not about the

man’s own father’s suicide so many,

many years ago, simply said,

“I’m sorry.”