June 6, 2024- Eighty years ago, American forces began the process of landing at a series of beachheads, along the northern coast of Normandy, France. Contrary to some characterizations by people too young, apparently, to have much awareness of World War II, this was a real, and somewhat deadly, event. So, too, was the Holocaust that took place between 1942-45. Real people died, and others suffered mightily, despite what those who make apologies for Fascism would have the rising generations believe.

One of those who suffered mightily was a Jewish-American soldier, captured along the southern limit of the Battle of the Bulge, near Bellecroix, in Metz, France, in January, 1945. He survived, and returned to the U.S., in the aftermath of V-E Day. He married, and sired a daughter, who grew up to be strong, intelligent and of sound moral character. Forty-two years ago today, that daughter of a soldier became my wife. Our marriage lasted 28 years, 9 months, until her death, in 2011, from pneumonia that was brought on by a progressive neurological disease.

Penny led me to embrace a Faith that has made more sense to me than any other system I have ever studied or investigated. She held the bar high for me, as a husband, and more times than not, I reached it- just as she met my expectations of her as a wife. Those times when we each fell short were more growth opportunities than failures, and they served to give our son the roadmap to a successful marriage of his own, which began civilly in November, 2018 and became faith-based in March, 2019.

I have done a lot of reflecting on our time together, and on the flow of energy that has sustained me, in the thirteen years since her passing. Thirteen years of largely alone time, punctuated by a growing friendship with another strong, intelligent woman, of sound moral character, would not have been possible, without feeling Penny’s spiritual energy, a light brush against me or a strong message from the other side of the curtain that separates the corporeal from the ethereal. Forty-two years have passed, and I will never be the same soul I was before she entered my life.