August 11, 2020
My mother’s longtime partner, Richard, died this afternoon. We are all heartbroken, her especially. This is for my mom:
Wild Geese
By Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
RIP Bernard Richard Stevenson
February 7, 1939 — August 11, 2020
Connie's Coronavirus Diary 
Thank you, honey. That was special. I will treasure it. Mom
Sent from my iPhone
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I am so sorry to hear this sad news. May Richard’s memory be a blessing and may you, Connie, your mom, And the rest of you family be comforted amidst the mourners of Zion. I remember him as a kind, warm man and am glad to have met him at various family gatherings.
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Thanks Deborah. That’s lovely
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Beautiful, Richard will be missed.
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