I have recently experienced a loss very close to me — my Dad. Among other things I am so grateful to him for is how he helped me through his example and support to join the Air Force, where I met my husband 29 years ago and started our family. Something about profound loss makes me want to embrace the precious gift of family and love. At one point I was close to throwing the promise of that gift away, but my future husband wrote a letter to me that changed all that. It’s all in “The Letter” under “Poetry and Serious Stuff”.