A time we got along really well*

{Mark's 63rd birthday would have been this coming Wednesday, so this is maybe fitting}

The very last weekend that Mark and I had together was a good one.  I remember big chunks of it, and  I fill in with what I know we probably did.  We visited a brewery and Italian restaurant in Llano, as well as a winery, then a tasting room, in Mason. At Highlands, I would have fixed us a simple dinner to enjoy by the firepit.  I do remember staying up much later than Mark did.

He was so tired, recovering from a heart attack, but we didn't know this.

our hill, at sundown

On Sunday, Mark would have slept in until about 9 a.m. while I had gotten up earlier - usually around 7 a.m.  I made a pot of coffee, then sat on one of the patio chairs to keep and eye out for passing wildlife - geese overhead, deer walking through, and the sounds of the cows mooing on the ranch next door.  He would have said "oh, you're just going to let me sleep the morning away?" as he always did.  I would have gotten him a cup of coffee and started making breakfast. 

I spy a cow

 Until afternoon we worked on various projects, just putseying around. Mark installed some nice stereo speakers on the outside of the Winnebago, then sat in his chair in the sun, listening to music on them.  Come up here, I said to him, motioning to the front of the barn.  I knew he hadn't been feeling well and I just wanted him to relax in the shade.  I opened his favorite wine (Lime in the Coconut!) and we sat in chairs facing each other, listening to music and chatting about anything and everything. {I so wish I could remember exactly what we talked about - we were sitting there for a couple of hours}  It was so amiable - like two old friends and each others' favorite companion.  In the late afternoon we took a nap, then woke around 6 p.m, loaded up the RV, and headed home.  I remember thinking that afternoon that we were really connecting, and I swore to myself that the NEXT weekend, we were just going to relax.  No projects, no travel, just time in our chairs in the sun on our hill, soaking up the last bit of summer.   

And then the unthinkable happened.

I miss talking with him, most of all. The mundane and the extraordinary.  All of it - 

catching up on our day or week, swapping stories about our jobs and people we knew, discussing the kids, making plans for Highlands and the future....  And I'm thankful that as that week wore on, with all of its frustrations and stress, we'd had Sunday together, enjoying each others' company.

*I am following a series of prompts for a few posts