Happy Heavenly Birthday Manuel!  You would be 59 today.  I remember all the fun birthdays that we celebrated for you.  All of your sweet wonderful friends making them days to treasure!  You were always so fun and excited about life.  As the sun would come up in the morning a smile would brighten your face.  So many possibilities for the next 24 hours.  I miss that.  I feel you all around me, and know that you are guiding me as I move through each day.  My smile has returned, my hope has returned, and my new life has begun all because you have stayed by my side.  I love you with every part of me and keep you close at all times.  Give Alex a big hug and kiss for me.  I love you, Your Forever Wife, Patty!

It Has Been Seven Years!

My Sweet, Sweet Manuel,

Each morning I awaken to the beautiful sight of the sun shining through the stained glass piece in my room of you and me two weeks before our wedding. It brings me comfort and a smile to my face. I can still smell the essence of you, feel the tender touch of your soft hands, and hear the sweet and funny words in my ear. It is not at all what I imagined it would be like at this point of the journey. The beautiful spirit of 'My Manuel' lives on for me. You encourage me, light my way in the dark, and remain by my side.

These past seven years I have been relearning how to walk, talk, and see in a world without you. In the genesis of this unwanted journey, I felt as though our beautiful, intricate tapestry of our lives that we had lovingly sewn over thirty years, one fine stitch at a time, had thoroughly unraveled leaving me cold and alone. Today I see that that the fragments of our story remain intact. Tapestries are made with two threads, the weft and the waft. It is made sturdy enough to endure any manner of tragedy it is presented with. The miracle is that the fabric does not deteriorate or fall apart at the seams. No. It goes through a process of metamorphoses. not unlike the butterfly, our masterpiece is hidden in a cocoon for a time to merge the past with the present. We are all still a family, the five of us. That will never change. What is so clear to me today is that the bond that fuses me to Max and Crystal has been fortified, I see a future for us, we have new goals and aspirations. Thank you for choosing "us".

Give Alex a big bear hug from me. I love you. Your Forever Wife