Death, incomprehensible, large & small

At the same time the death tolls from the tsunami were steadily increasing, I got a call from a friend telling me my dearest friend had succumbed the night before to a long illness. Death is not something I can comprehend, on any scale. The magnitude of the horror is Southeast Asian astounds and numbs me. The current death toll there equals more than 17 times the population of my small town. I can't even begin to come to terms with that.

In trying to to come to terms with Giacinto's death I am just as lost. I certainly was far more prepared for him to go than for a disaster of monumental proportions but it doesn't seem to make much difference. My home is filled with his artwork (he painted the image at the top of the post), including his self-portrait. I said goodbye to him a few times when he was close and had talked to him at his home in France a week or so before he died. I suppose it still really hasn't sunken in. Another close friend had died a few months ago, in fact the husband of the woman who called me about Giacinto, and I am only now starting to realize he's not coming back.

Some of you I'm sure are much more comfortable with death and dying than I am. I'm sure as I get older and my contemporaries start going more frequently I will get there as well. For now I'm just shell-shocked.

One thing we can do. Donate to Doctors Without Borders . They've set up refugee camps and are probably the most efficient of all the relief organizations.

I realized that thus far most of my posts have had little to do with food, or restaurant operation. Life has been happening. I'll post a restaurant related thing next.