Life after death: I want to believe

Painting by Billie based on a photo by David Muench

I've lost my share of loved ones. Probably more than my share for my age. Parents and grandparents, my sister. Aunts and uncles. My favorite uncle Richard died of cancer in 2002. I lost Nelson, one of my closest friends in the world, to AIDS. And John, a man I was involved with for a long while and nearly married three times, died a couple of years ago.