It's been a very difficult past few weeks and I apologize for missing the weekly update on the 29th. I just couldn't do it.
I had worked with Doug Bohrer recently to list a house and then the lots at Parcell Woods in Sennett. He passd away on the 1st of March. A month ago we were texting about pricing, septic tests, new beginnings and what we would do if one or two of the lots hadn't sold by this time in 2013. Then he got sick, and the next thing I knew he was in ICU and his parents had been called up from Virginia.
We knew he wasn't coming back on the 28th and that it was "just a matter of time" as they say. He passed away on March 1st. Calling hours were Sunday, with an hour and a half wait, the line out the door into the freezing cold and snow. The funeral was yesterday, with very few dry eyes in the overflow crowd.
Today we go back to "normal," but with a difference. Doug was only 48, with three amazing children and many friends. Normal would be Doug driving around in his truck with his ride-along dog, Dublin, at his side.
I learned a bit about life in the past month, lessons I certainly would trade. Life is short, as they say, but not only short but precarious. And precious. It's not always about the future, but mostly about the moment. There was an incredible multimedia presentation at the funeral. Pictures upon pictures of Doug and the kids, or Doug and his little sister. Mostly outside, mostly hanging out. Mostly smiling. The moments in life that are precious.
I stood around after the service with women who had come in support of his dear friend Jean who had supported him and his parents over the past year. I heard it several times - "I want to go home and take more photos!" And not only photos, but to create the occasions at which photos are taken. The Grand Canyon, a lake in the Adirondacks, just being with friends and family. Memorialized, but also lived.
I went out and walked last evening after showing a house. I happened to be in Liverpool, so I walked by the lake then went to India House for Punjabi dal takeout. I came home and shared the meal with Bob, had a Grail Ale, and we talked. We agreed to try for more awareness of each day.
My old friend from the charter school days, Colleen Hassett-Mastine, passed away a few weeks ago. I hadn't seen her in years, and I was saddened that I didn't have time to tell her that I, too, had become a grandmother. She was the quintessential grandmother. When her Declan was born, she kept saying "You just don't know...." how wonderful it is. I do now!
So I will do my real estate, sell those lots that Doug worked so hard to develop, help first-time buyers through the process...and remember that life is both precious and precarious.
