April 26
This morning I got blind-sided. I’m planning a trip, going solo, and as I spoke about it to a friend, I started crying. I’ve taken trips since Norm passed, I’ve driven and flown on my own. But all of a sudden, the sorrow hit me that he won’t be here to say good-bye. I’ve dealt several times with the fact that he’s no longer here to greet me when I return, but this is the first dealing with his absence when I leave.
I am thankful for all the times that Norm and I had together. The price of love when one goes before the other, grief that appears at any time for any reason.
I pray for wisdom as I face each day.
I rejoice that God remains faithful. He has given me a great group of ladies who encourage me day by day.
Where’s the joy? The memories of the gift of a wonderful man and a loving relationship.
Norm used to say, “Let’s go to the south of France and see cathedrals and castles.”
I’d counter with, “Let’s go see the fjords of Norway.”
In 2024, before Norm got sick, we went to the fjords of Norway with plans for the south of France in 2025. We went with Viking Cruise Lines, met some wonderful couples with whom we won a couple of trivia games, and enjoyed the unique landscape of Norway and Sweden.
We took a train excursion, a boat ride down a fjord to see Pulpit Rock, saw the apartment where ABBA began, enjoyed the art and architecture of multiple towns, and took a bus through a tunnel that had a round about in it.
We stopped by one island that is independent, but kind of overseen by Denmark. As we walked around the town we came across the Russian Embassy building. Across the street, someone had built a memorial for the people of Ukraine in protest of Putin’s invasion, and later that day, a protest had been planned. Norm was disappointed we couldn’t stay and be part of the protest.
We made it into one town on a festival day. I watched from the ship as people walked by dressed in all kinds of costumes pulling wagons and baby carriages that we found out were full of beer. We had fun walking the town and seeing the variety of costuming…but the biggest amazement when the festival concluded, the clean up began, we were shocked at the speed at which the clean up happened. I will say that all the towns were very clean.
In Oslo, we went to Akershus…for those of you who don’t know, Akers is my maiden name. A nordic castle on the hill, it had a statue of FDR, who apparently provided protection for the royal family during the war.
Norm did get sick on the cruise, we thought it was just a bug, but in hindsight, it probably was because of the cancer. I visited Copenhagen without him. I saw the statue of the Little Mermaid, and went to the local amusement park that had the oldest wooden roller coaster in the world, which I rode by myself.
Norm and I had a lot of great times and saw some awesome places. I miss him.
TRICIA LATHROP 