Monday, March 4, 2024

Brokenhearted here...

  

Hello, dear friends and readers.

 

I know I've been essentially absent for the past few years. No new books. No regular newsletters. I didn't say too much about it then, but now I'm ready to share. 

 

My wife and soulmate, Dale, passed on January 20th, 2024 due to covid pneumonia. She'd been so sick with complications from her MS for several years that it was a blessing for her to be released, as heartbreaking as it is for those of us left behind. She was ready to go.
 
We were married almost 43 years and there's a great, ripping hole in my heart right now. It's hard to talk about it, which is why I put this off for so long.
 
Thankfully, she was able to be with and communicate with (most) of her family the day before she passed. Love spilled from that ICU room.

I'll link to the obituary, but for now I wanted to share again her experience she had in 2012 when almost died. This is the story as I captured it. Do you remember it? Now she is with Him and her parents and all our animals we've loved and lost along the way. https://www.johnwmartinfuneralhome.com/obituary/dale-lazar
 
I still talk to her all the time and I know she's preparing a beautiful spot for us up there as we agreed before she died - a cabin near a crystal clear lake, gardens riotous with color and NO weeds, and a field full of all the horses we've loved over the years. Of course the dogs and cats are everywhere.
 



This photo needs editing for scratches and dust spots, but I no longer have my Photoshop program so I have to search for a way to fix it. Dale is young in all these pictures because that's how I imagine her now in Heaven. Deliriously happy, overwhelmed at the beauty of Heaven, and thankfully no longer in pain. She promised she'd take each of our past horses on rides every day when she arrived. 

 

If you read my books, you know Elsbeth, Camille, and Rachel. These three characters are all based on parts of Dale. It wasn't intentional, really, but she found her way into all of them. 




 

My daughters have been taking excellent care of me. Even though they’ve all lost their mother, they are coming together to check in with me every day. I'm so lucky to have all three of them. It’s a strange feeling, when I’ve always been the caretaker. Then again, it’s very nice. I’m also taking great solace in my beautiful grandchildren and of course, in dear little Biscuit. He has been such a comfort, all day long. 


1 comment:

Terry W. Ervin II said...

I am very sorry for the loss of your wife, Dale. The reunion in Heaven, in the cabin by the lake, is something to look forward to. That doesn't mean the time in while separated will be easy. Continue to hang in there.