Hey, maeve: Yeah, nice typo. By the time I met Mary, she'd already been through that first, hard stroke. When she was younger, she directed the youth choir and was a wonderful soloist with a beautiful voice. I've been think about Mary a lot today. She was a wonderful, beloved teacher, a gifted musician and singer and a very elegant lady. When she had the stroke it might have seemed that all of what made her such a fine woman was taken away from her. She not only coudln't ing, she couldn't speak, or teach. She couldn't even play piano anymore. But the most precious thing about her remained: her generous, loving Spirit. It almost seemed like all of the most obvious wonderful qualities of hers were stripped away until all that remained was the beauty of her soul. That shone brighter than ever.

I know I am going to write a chapter in my next book about Mary, drawing on what I have posted here.

Jerry