While purging my inbox, I happened upon some emails from my dear friend and mentor, Kirk Shreve. I realized that he's been gone for exactly four years to the day, less than a month before my wedding (I had been waiting impatiently for Kirk and Alex's RSVP. His August 15, 2006 email said "of course" he was planning on attending). Further, I spent a couple hours yesterday ruminating on the possibility of a return to funeral service (Some days, I think my "dream" job would be doing only body prep: embalming, dressing, make-up. No removals except the gross or interesting ones, no dress clothes, no arrangements, certainly no property maintenance. All embalmings and prep, all the time Weird that that sounds perfect to me, huh?).
Ordinarily, I would have chalked these deliberations up to trepidation regarding recent contemplations about grad school. Now it's perfectly clear to me that it was my "Uncle" Kirk. He was a generous, loving and wise friend. I'm sure my life would be much different than it is now if Kirk was still around.
