Journal
For about as long as we have been married, Erik has told me when he turned 50, he wanted to get a matching tattoo to the one he got when he was 40. A few months ago, I said, "Let's price it out." The price was reasonable so I said we'd do it. A few weeks ago, he said he changed his mind and wanted two things that were not tangible.
1) He wanted take a trip to Seattle to see his oldest daughter, which we were close to booking the flight for last weekend.
2) Instead of gifts and cake/ice cream for the 50th anniversary of his birth (how he says birthday!), he wanted people to either donate to a cause they care about for the amount of what they were going to spend or do something kind to another person whether it would be a relative, friend or stranger. Things like spending time with a relative or friend or buying a homeless person a meal or drink of water or give them something to warm them up or cool them off and write what they did for a person in the card they give to him.
I have already been a recipient of kindness. A (former?) co-worker of Erik's gave a card to his manger to give to me yesterday. In it, she gave me a gift card to a restaurant so I would remember to nourish my physical body during this time. But she also gave the perfect testimony of how he was.
"Erik was always willing to help and I would see him bring surprises to others on our team. I always thought that it was so kind of him. Recently Erik and I spoke about your ill uncle and chatted about his daughters and parents."
Yes... Erik was always bragging about his daughters and his family, even to complete strangers. People who didn't know him, would get to know him within 5 minutes of meeting him.
In honor of my beloved, I urge you to do just that. Do something kind for a lived one or stranger. And please share what you did on this tribute page. Not so you would get glory in boasting, but because Erik would have wanted you to share it with him. In the coming days, I will post a few organizations to donate to if you would like to donate something in his honor.
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