Passing of a Swedish Neighbor

I met Richard over a month ago. We stood at the stone wall that divides our gardens and spoke for a short bit. I had seen he and his wife outside a number of times. They worked in the garden constantly. I have never seen such a well manicured garden in all my life!!! He was an older man. I have since learned that he was 86. Anyway, we made introductions. He explained that he was from Sweden. I told him I was flying back to the USA the next morning to see my grandfather who had fallen and was in the hospital. We agreed that I should visit he and his wife and have some vin rouge (red wine) sometime.

Following my short visit to the USA, and for the past month, I have not seen Richard. Several weeks ago, I noticed that their grass had grown higher than usual and wondered if something was wrong. Well, my thoughts were confirmed Friday night while having dinner with a Swiss couple (also neighbor's of mine). They informed me that Richard had a heart attack and died a month ago. He had made breakfast and was serving his wife in bed when it happened.

It's too bad I never got the chance to have wine with he and his wife. Even from my short conversation, I could tell that he is a nice man. Today, I spoke to his wife and told her how sorry I was to hear the news. She confirmed that he died just a few days after speaking to me. I suppose it happened while I was visiting family in the USA. She is very sad of course and noted that it is "difficile". She made the comment that she is all alone. I feel terrible for her. I told her to let me know if I could help with anything. She was thankful for the offer but it did little to ease the pain of her loss.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the everyday occurrences of our busy lives and forget the smaller, more important details.