Dear Paul,

   As I believe you are part of Everything now, I know I don't need to thank you or tell you how much you are missed (because you know it) but you are, so I will. I will do it for those of us left behind. You are missed and loved still. Your life and influence on those who were touched by you in big and small ways continues to deepen even in your absence. In fact looking back at our conversations and the way you lived your life, who you were, it has become clear to me that you were a great spiritual teacher, I say that even tho you would have laughed in your big way and denied it, if I had said that to you. 
You after all were just being yourself and that is exactly the point.

  It is because of you and one of our conversations that I have decided to begin writing and because it won't go away this idea I should be writing. It was about 6 months before you passed on, we were sitting at the table in the kitchen as we did every morning then. I would come and fix you breakfast (It was such a gift to cook for some one who enjoyed food so much, I miss that) afterward we would sit and talk. You would ask after all (5) of my kids, genuinely interested in each one giving me advice on them and my work in Haiti both. Always starting with "I don't know anything about this but..." 
 We talked allot about what we would do if..? One morning you asked me what would I do if I could do anything, a big question but I knew the answer "I would write".
You asked what I would write about and why - harder questions that I did not have good answers for yet.  I have thought about that everyday since.

A few weeks ago I began reading 'Stumbling on Happiness' by Daniel Gilbert, it opens with the question "if you had only 10 minutes to live what would you do?"
 Easy! Climb to the top of the hill above my house and write. 
Write letters to everyone I love and people I don't know. Write to leave something behind to hold on to, to inspire, to know that even tho you may be sitting alone as you read, none of us are alone and we are all much more of the same experience than not. 
  So that is what I plan to do here. Write letters. I will write letters to you, to my family, to institutions, situations and even my car (thanks for that by the way). I will write letters to what ever comes up. It will give form to the subject that was so varied that I could not put words to it to answer your question, what would I write about, because who I am and what I want to write about does not fit into any box are belong to any label.

 Thank you Paul, We know now what you meant when you told Yaya  
"Listen to me, I am going to tell you something that will change everything"

You did.

love 
annie