the hardest thing is saying goodbye

today I bought flowers and picked out a card. No card is the right card for the last thing you will ever say to someone. No words are the right words for the final farewell.

Happy birthday, Herb. Two days early, but I couldn't risk missing it, missing you.

One last time to say, "You have changed me. You have moved me. You have given me things for which I will always be grateful."

But I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye. Only, "acres of love."