My friend

The friend for whom I was reading Ursula Le Guin, so we could discuss it when I visited, died on Monday night. She had been ill for a long time, in and out of hospice, and had 24 hour care at home in the months before she died. She was not expected to live nearly so long, by her doctors. I expected her to last months longer; her spirit was so strong, she was so interested in life, so determined to live. So constantly curious and intellectually eager, even under the influence of the painkillers that fog most people out. She was very thin, and growing steadily thinner, thanks I suppose to the progress of the disease. In the end I suppose her physical resources simply wore out.

I never finished the Earthsea Series. I haven't got a copy of The Other Wind yet. I was going to give her back her copy of Tales of Earthsea this Sunday, when I saw her again, and then get The Other Wind to talk about next time.

I wish she were still here. We never finished our conversation. I suppose we never would have done. There always seemed to be new things to talk about.

God rest her gentle soul.