Beth, This is so far from what I would surround you with . . . words fail, but words will have to do . . . Poet Rainer Marie Rilke offered the poem/prayer: God, give us each our own death, the dying that proceeds from each of our lives: the way we loved, the meanings we made, our need. I do not intend to offer meaning or explanation in the thought that follows; only, perhaps, a small ray of comfort . . . Levi’s own death, proceeding from his own life . . . The way Levi loved . . . deeply . . . And like all of us, ordinarily . . . Running an errand for another just because, To borrow from another poet, “This is what the living do.” Levi was doing what the living do when he met death face to face He was living and so too are we, we who will remember The meanings Levi made . . . Son, brother, uncle, friend, student of life, giver of joy . . . Levi’s need . . . Going towards and not away from . . . Living the life he meant to not the one he stumbled into accidentally Pursuing The Dream Working hard Achieving the unique being that was Levi It is not the death we hope or plan for . . . But somehow, coming far too soon, Levi’s leaving still bears the imprint of his living . . . his loving . . . Holding all of you in the warm embrace of the eternal Comforter. Beth Pyles