An old friend was there. He was robbed at gunpoint at the Stanford Shopping mall, and beaten badly in the head with the gun. He now has PTSD as memories of his time in the army are back. He can't work and is out of money. I sit with that, sit with a lifetime of an incredibly active and vital woman encompassed in three hours, and someone who was a fully-functioning human being now feeling, with reason, so afraid and so alone. He asked me to help him through the ceremony. Crowds frighten him. I don't know what to say, or why I felt a need to share this, but I do.
Perhaps it is to ask for prayers for Mate and for all of us as we make our way doing our best with limited views.