Goodbye, Vicente Ibarra.

Our sweet friend, Vicente, is gone.  What a fighter.  What a worker.  What a lovely and special person who was far more influential in my life than I ever let myself think...until today.

Vicente left this world last night.  Battling cancer for so many years and really giving it a run for its money.  He could cook like no one I know.  He landscaped our entire property.  I can't look anywhere outside my home and not see his handiwork.  He let my boys set their hand and foot prints in the concrete on the patio.  He called the patio "the freeway" since the boys would blast across it on tricycles and little play cars.  He built a little mound for our cactus and cemented rocks in the side of it in the shape of a "B" and an "S" to honor our two little sweeties.  And while he did this work, my little Silas would call out the window to him, "Hi Ma-sentay!"  And Vicente would call back "Hello little mijo!"

I honor my friend's life today.