EILEEN AND ME Six years ago when I came to Vashon island I began to ride around with the Senior Center (SC) bus that picks up seniors for lunch at the SC. A woman living in a shack in the deep forest would be sitting on a large rock each morning waiting for us. From the beginning she always sat next to me. After almost 2 years, when no one could possibly see, she turned and kissed me passionately. She gave the most engaging kiss I have ever known. It made me feel timeless, with no tomorrow or yesterday. One evening , after 3 years, she came to my door and asked if she could stay with me. We have been living together ever since. Our relationship deepened over the next 3 years. Eileen had many health issues but her mistrust of doctors, and almost everyone else, kept her from getting help. She would never consider taking a vaccine. I feared this was the last year we would be together because of her aversion to medical help. She would not take medications and one doctor had told her to maintain a Mediterranean diet for her extremely high BP. We made all our meals together and I tried to make them very healthy. On a Saturday morning she set out to get salad materials for our lunch. Somehow I feared, as she walked out the door, that this was the last time I would see her alive. Our town is very small. On her way to the grocery store, she was hit by a truck while she was in a crosswalk. She was airlifted to the hospital. She had immediate brain surgery. Her brother and I were there right after surgery. She was terribly broken. We returned the next morning. They removed her from life support and I held her until her little heart stopped and she became cold. I kissed her and I could feel her lips respond to mine in a final kiss. The memory of that last kiss is etched into my soul!