Alas, we weren’t able to return to Sanibel when Hilary’s health took a turn for the worse at the end of 2017, and after that we spent many hours remembering our endlessly happy times by the water and making elaborate plans for what we would do after she got her new lungs and was able to travel once again. It stood to reason, then, that she would be pleased for her ashes to become part of the place she loved best, and so my own plan is to fly down to Sanibel this December, spend a month in the bungalow we shared, and commit Hilary’s earthly remains to the Gulf of Mexico as the sun sets. She will be home at last.
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“Requiem,” by Ned Rorem, performed by Charles Bressler and the composer. The words are by Robert Louis Stevenson: