… but today we met his wife, Andrea, and we have thought about her ever since.  Andrea came to the Beach House today to buy our sofa.  Not a significant purchase for some, but for Andrea, as we learned, it was part of letting go of her past and moving bravely into the future.  As Andrea test-drove the sofa, telling us of how she was starting to replace some of those items that her husband Tyler had insisted upon moving into their home despite her thinking better of it, it was clear that this wasn’t an ordinary story of a guy with bachelor tastes … like Jess’ wagon wheel coffee table in When Harry Met Sally.  Andrea was clearly emotional over the discussion.  I wondered what was wrong, a divorce perhaps?  But she still had a wedding ring on, or at least a precious stone that I took to be a wedding ring.  A few minutes further into our discussion, we learned that Tyler had recently passed away, in February of this year.  There was the briefest hesitation, neither Gina nor I knowing exactly what to say, and yet at the same time, the recognition that here sat Andrea, newly widowed, but out here, moving forward with her life, clearly still experiencing the grief of her recent loss, but not letting that stop her from smiling and talking with strangers and sharing her Australian neighbors’ contact information.  Paying it forward to make our lives a little bit easier while hers is probably experiencing difficulties we cannot even comprehend.

After Andrea left, we looked up Tyler, found the blog started by his family, and read what we could about this husband, father and son.  Although we never met him, we did have the honor of meeting his wife.  And she reminded us that indeed, life is too short, it can turn on a dime, and it isn’t always easy, but having faith, holding your head up, and facing each day as best you can – and with a smile for strangers – is a life worth striving for.  It’s not often that a stranger touches your life in a positive meaningful way, but that happened to us today, smack dab out of the clear blue skies.  Andrea, we never met your husband Tyler, and maybe he still would have preferred his sofa over ours, but we hope that it brings you comfort of some sort, and that someday our paths cross again.