True Love & Woman on the Verge of Paradise

Kindly note: I am standing closer to the camera with knees slightly bent and less of a curly top. This is to say that I appear even shorter than I am. I swear, I'm slightly taller than him. Really, I am.

Last week, very special people visited Chico; my nephew and I had such a great time. Here we are in the Chico Plaza. A snippet from Woman on the Verge of Paradise follows. It takes the reader to 2010, when I'd just said "goodbye" to my then three year old love bug.  I've learned through J. that true love takes many forms and has no end.

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 They’d only been gone an hour when one lone tear trickled down my face. I didn’t expect or quite understand my emotional state. We had such a great, fun-loving time. I couldn’t get enough of my nephew, but I’d see him again soon.

   Why am I feeling this way? I wondered. It was as if I’d said “goodbye” to someone I loved dearly. That’s why; I had.

   But this was different than having said “goodbye” to Justin when I went away for a weekend, or having to continue to say “goodbye” to Justin every day for perhaps the rest of my life. It was a softer, warmer, much sweeter “goodbye.”

   It struck me that I had just said “goodbye” to the love of my life, the new one. Being Josiah's Auntie is pure heaven. His beautiful beaming smile, flavored with a heaping teaspoon of mischief, tickles my heart.  He adores me too. I can tell by the way he body-slams me with an elbow to my rib cage, a choke-hold taxing my windpipe, and a stinky foot pressed leisurely against my nostrils—all accompanied by ferocious laughter. 

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Please take care, my friends. 
I know that some of you are really struggling now, and my heart is with you.
Love yourself and know that you are loved.