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"I know," I whisper

I park on the single-lane paved driveway a fes back fro out of the car, I reach in the backseat for two bouquets of flowers, lilies for my dad and sunflowers for my mom They were her favorite

I walk over to where they rest; Luke walks just a couple paces behindme space He always knohat to do to comfort me I’ll have to thank him later

This section of the cereat view of don, the Space Needle, and the Sound I gaze around e, blackabout the wet ground, and brush leaves and grass off the base, cleaning it up, keeping myself busy and my eyes averted from their names and dates of birth and death

I place the flowers beneath their names and then sit back on , bold letters across the top, their names and dates are below Written in script below that is I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine

I lean forward and place my palms flat on the smooth, cold marble over each of their precious na the memories flood my mind

Luke kneels next to me and places his hand on the center of my back

"Talk about theently

I don’t look at him, I just keep my eyes closed and

"My mom loved to bake We would bake cookies every weekend, even when I was in college She was pretty and she huggedunchecked and unheeded downaround us

"She had an MBA from Stanford, but rather than leave me in day care, she chose to stay home and raise me herself

And she always toldshe ever did and that she was so thankful for the opportunity to care for me and my dad

"She was so smart and funny and she was my best friend" I whisper and brush the tears offmy hand back to the marble

"My dad was funny too, but in more of a dry way He was crazy about my mom The sun rose and set with her as far as he was concerned He spoiled her incessantly, which is one of the things that reminds me of him when I think of you" I sot, he always caht

He was a ruthless business entlest hter,

he

was

voracious

and