My dear friend and neighbor, Corrine Heiberg, died three years ago this month. Many times every day I think of my friend, Corrine, of her husband, Elvin, and of all the kindness, laughter, and sharing they brought, and still bring, to our lives.

This month, Third Wednesday Magazine, a journal that has enriched my life as a reader, subscriber, and contributor, has published a sonnet I wrote this year for Corrine. Just yesterday, I learned the magazine has honored it by making it poem of the week on their website.

While in the years since Corrine’s death, Elvin and I have often taken a drive to the serene and nearby Oaklawn Cemetery to visit Corrine’s grave, and to visit the family graves of the Heibergs and the Hulbergs (Elvin’s mother’s family), I realized this year that I had never taken flowers to any grave on Memorial Day. With so many moves in my life, I have perhaps never been in the same city as the final resting place of a deceased relative.

This year, with so many gorgeous flowers in our garden, and frustrated because Elvin and I could not take our uses drives or even visit for armchair travel with slide shows in his apartment due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I thought that at least I could take flowers to Corrine on Memorial Day. Elvin supported the idea, and so I made some bouquets (pictured below). Later, I made this sonnet.

Below are some photographs take that day last May. (Frederick Heiberg and Beulah Hulberg were Elvin’s parents. Grace Whittier was his godmother.)