Tomorrow, November 15th would have been Jill's 58th birthday if she had lived just a little longer. 

I know life sure is different now for me without her to direct whenever I hit bumps. I hope I am living the life she would be proud of in her absence. I am sure she has laughed hysterically at some of my missteps and blunders along the way. 

She would say to everyone on special occasions,"may all your joy be pure, and all your pain be champagne!" 

Happy birthday to our Jill who surely blessed my life, and many others, and loved life as much as someone possibly could in the years she had. Life just never turns out the way you planned, and she and I were definitely not planned for, and I feel so blessed to have had her in my life for almost 22 years. 

I was and am a very lucky man!

Rik (Jill's husband)

Second Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) without Jill and this one was much much harder as I really had nothing to do to honor her this year. So during Kol Nidre (the evening  service) I basically just hummed along and cried quite a bit. The person making the pitch for the annual fundraiser was even kind enough to mention Jill by name several times and how much she had meant to the synagogue's financial health. It was quite nice. Fasting was OK but I got distracted  picking the last of the Marion Berries yesterday afternoon and then just had to have a few (LOL!). Did not even realize that until several minutes later when I went whoops!

Getting back into the rhythm of teaching school is proving challenging this year after a wonderful summer of travel and learning. But it is a good distraction from my broken heart (from final breakup with a beautiful woman I was seeing on and off over the last eight months) and my missing of Jill at this time of year. How she loved the holidays so much and the cooking. At least I was able to take part in the meal before the fast this year that friends call the white meal because everything is white or light colored.

Not sure how much more I will post, but Jill wanted me to deactivate her blog after year but her words continue to help others, so perhaps I will try to keep it up a while longer. Thanks again to all of you for your continuous support and as always if you really need to reach me I am available.

Today was our Jill Cohen's unveiling of her grave marker. Beautiful words from the Rabbi on the values and ethics and the love she had for the Beth Shalom synagogue community and all her communities that she was part of including the NWAIDS Foundation, Radost Folk Group, Dunava choir, mets cancer groups and Hadassah. Beautiful words of Torah ( http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et2831.htm) about the value of a strong assertive direct woman who knew what she wanted and was detail oriented with everyone and everything. Thanks to Rabbi Jill Borodin for all that and her friends and family for sharing their kind thoughts and poems.

Been a while since I posted as we have just passed the ten month anniversary of her death. Her unveiling of her grave marker is on June 25th and will mark the formal period of her official mourning to be over. The new normal around here is strange. The house is very quiet. Had to put Boychick down, the 11 year old rescue Cocker Spaniel because he had a pretty big tumor growing in the back of his jaw. The doctor gave him maybe six weeks. Also trying to follow Jill's wishes and look for love again. It has proven not as easy as I thought it would! I have had several dates, one extremely serious interest but it did not work because it got too complicated with us living in different countries after a few months, and it was really too hard as we were together as a couple but separated and living separate lives. I was commuting on weekends and long school breaks but it was not enough, I guess. So I guess it is back to square one a little wiser perhaps. Just returned from Cincinnati and the APHG reading where I had Graeter's Ice Cream almost every day! Jill would have loved that! Off for the summer soon (first time with no summer school or graduate school to teach) and will be going to Cuba with a bunch of geographers, New Mexico for a geography conference and back to Montreal to see my friends and family in August. The house is beautiful as always during this time of year with the garden in full bloom raspberries, strawberries and blackberries all starting to bloom. Thanks to Shira my adoptive mom who weeded and hacked back so much she filled four compost bins!  Jill's favorite time of year and with the new deck she would have loved it all. Thanks for all the continuous love and support as always.

Apparently Jill 's site keeps winning awards!  I am sure she is smiling and laughing or just saying OY! She is near the end at number 48 of 50. See below:

My name is Anuj Agarwal. I'm Founder of Feedspot.

I would like to personally congratulate you as your blog Dancing With Cancer | Living With Mets, The New Normal has been selected by our panelist as one of the Top 50 Breast Cancer Blogs on the web. http://blog.feedspot.com/breast_cancer_blogs/

I personally give you a high-five and want to thank you for your contribution to this world. This is the most comprehensive list of Top 50 Breast Cancer Blogs on the internet and I’m honored to have you as part of this!

Also, you have the honor of displaying the badge on your blog. Best, Anuj