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Eileen Drury spent most of her life looking for closure. Her 90 years were characterized by searching, by longing, by trying to make sense of it all. She never did. She completed her journey without any satisfactory answers.
It was 70 years earlier, a young Eileen was broken-hearted when the love of her life rejected her. She could not understand; how could she possibly feel the way she did and yet those feelings were not reciprocated?
She searched her soul. Did she do something wrong? Offend him? Offend God? She didn’t know.
She saw him several times after that. Awkwardly, by chance. She never indicated anything was wrong between them and he was unfailingly polite, even thoughtful. His obvious kindness just made Eileen feel worse.
Eileen read books about psychology, philosophy. She wanted to understand and she wanted to find a way to cope. There were suiters, but Eileen found them to be unsuitable. None compared to the one that got away.
Today, at last, after a lifetime of emotional struggle, Eileen has finally found closure. For this, although we mourn, we are glad.
The eulogy concluded, they closed the box and lowered Eileen into the ground. Jack, who died half a century earlier, knew nothing of this.