Awe Cliff. We took this selfie before "selfies." Before we had power in this cabin you built by hand (with trees from this land cut on the old tractor-powered sawmill). The cabin I moved into over twenty years ago, afterwhich you said, "You doilied it up Honey" -not because I actually had a single doily in this cozy home but because I took down the giant elk head that hung low enough above the old plaid couch to bonk us on the head. I hung nude paintings by Freeman Butts of myself and Stacey Herries on the walls, cooked on a gas stove instead of a wood stove and kept up the place better than "mountain man clean."

Today would have been your 69th birthday.

I miss you more than I've words to express - tough to type through tears. You hated it when I cried but you were a constant caring witness for sob after sob, no matter what time of day or night, no matter the reason (or no reason). Your unconditional love and companionship made me a better person; and that's a damn dumb way to try to say what a gift you've been. I still don't know how to manage without you. I can't believe you are gone. I love you so much dear Cliffy. Happy Birthday.