The Last Place We Saw You

    This is the first time the Montana aviation conference has been in Missoula since Tracy died almost three years ago. The last two days have been a nice break from the routine of home and a welcome reunion with the larger aviation community, but the memories knocking at our hearts have grown louder despite all the daily distractions. Today I must deal with my grief and write it.

 

The Last Place We Saw You

 

So many things have changed

since we were together three years ago.

We thought we would be okay

meeting in a different venue,

staying in a different hotel,

eating at different restaurants.

 

But one thing has not changed,

the most important thing--

This was the last place we saw you alive.

 

Despite the busyness of the conference,

the pleasure of visiting and sharing meals

with friends and family, and

the proud memory of your public award,

one thought pulses in the back of our minds, 

 refusing now to remain in shadows.

 

Despite the different date, and venue,

 the new ones who came and the old who did not--

This was the last time we saw you alive. 

 

We want both to embrace the image

and to push it away

because after that came the still body,

unnaturally cold and cosmetically enhanced,

foreign, familiar, loved 

and unbearable to look at. 

           We know you're fully, freely alive now,            

we'll join again in heaven, and yet

those joys to come cannot make us forget--

 

This was the last place we saw you. 

3/1/25