It’s hard to believe, but it has already been three months since my husband of 37 years, Carl Crosier, joined the heavenly chorus. And still — I continue to receive sympathy cards and monies directed to his three favorite charities: The Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, The Lutheran Church of Honolulu, and Early Music Hawaii. To date, $20,000 has been collected for these three institutions, for which I am profoundly astounded, and grateful. I tried to write a personal thank you note for everyone who sent money, and for those who sent cards and emails, please know that they were read and appreciated very much.

Carl’s passing left a huge hole in this community, and I am especially remembering more than ever his unique and exceptional gifts in his generosity of spirit, time, talent and financial resources —  and his overabundance of musical gifts. He had a way of making a choir sound not only good — but better than it ought, the proverbial creation of a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. And nearly always, his choirs rose to the occasion, and sounded better in performance than in rehearsal.

Regular readers of this blog know that I’ve taken on lots of extra gigs — not necessarily to keep busy, but because the need for organists continues unabated. Many people wonder how I am coping with the loss of my teammate, and in fact, I’ve been asked to speak to the hospice class at Iolani after Thanksgiving on how I will face the holidays.

I would have posted this yesterday on Thanksgiving, but it was my first time ever to cook the turkey — all these years Carl took on that responsibility. Throughout all my preparations, I could hear him admonishing me: “Kathy, that’s not the right knife!”  “That’s not where ___(fill in the blanks) belongs!”

To all of you, I am grateful for your love and support during this journey.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!