Ten years ago tonight, my husband and I had our first date. Fitting, no doubt, for a girl who loves this trinity of days of Halloween-All Saints-All Souls, and a boy who once starred in a Halloween horror movie. Over dinner this evening, on this All Hallows Eve, I talked with Gary about my friend Tammy. One of my best friends in seminary, Tammy was among my first artist-heroes. I wanted to be her when I grew up.

Tonight I told Gary of how Tammy’s heart fell apart one night as she and her beloved sat at the table, talking about where they might eat dinner. She slipped out of this world in such a beautifully and achingly ordinary moment, my friend who brought such artfulness and spirit to the everyday. It’s in the ordinariness that I most often think of her, and am mindful of her creative spirit that still lingers close—when my eyes light on a pottery bowl she made, or I see the big cardboard angel she created for me out of a refrigerator box, or am in a stuck place in the studio and wonder, What Would Tammy Do?

On this All Hallows Eve, who lingers close to you?

All Hallows Blessing

Who live
in the spaces between
our breathing

in the corner
of our vision

in the hollows
of our bones

in the chambers
of our heart:

nowhere can they
be touched
yet still

how they move us,
how they move
in us,

made from the
tissue of memory
like the veil
between the worlds

that stirs at
the merest breath
this night
and then is
at rest.