Barbara’s Blessing

Today is March 17, so many people are wearing green and celebrating the Irish in them (even if for only one day of the year). For me, the day is to be celebrated for another reason.

My friend Barbara was born on this day in 1950 and passed away last year of breast cancer. I miss her and I’m not alone. She made such a mark on her friends’ lives that I know many miss her. She lived in Colorado, I lived in Washington, and we met in France. In that odd way of blessings, we were strangers who became friends in a foreign place. It was my first trip to Paris and her umpteenth – in fact, she was there to show the city to her nephew – so she took me under her wing and made sure I safely toured too. Returning to our homes, we maintained a correspondence and exchanged packages every December.

So on this St. Patrick’s Day, I wish my friend Barbara the blessings of this poem by Irishman John O’Donohue

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

We’ll never forget you.