So far away

I'm standing on a dock this morning, in the bitter cold, looking across the water at what has been my home these last 12 years.  And I'm thinking -- I can't help it -- of the email I just received, from my best friend in college, telling me her husband passed away this morning. 

We've known it was coming -- brain cancer has a way of announcing itself -- but the impact still hits hard: I can still picture him at their wedding, Christmastime, SO many years ago; still hear his distinctive voice, still visualize the green velour bell-bottomed pantsuit I wore as matron of honor (!).

There are those who like to say "he's gone to the other side," or "he's gone home," and I can see that's one way of looking at it.  But from this side, that side -- and home -- seem very, very far away...