St. Maarten Private Eye

Eleven month of waiting. I had never experienced anything like this before. I never hope to again. Always there was a small chance that Joel might be alive. We waited. We did what we could. We went on with our lives.

Until one has walked in the shoes of the family and close friends who have literally LOST someone, they must not throw stones. Amy Gonzales was only Joel's ex wife to me when this whole thing began. She was Georgia's mom. Though I had met her, I really only knew her through Joel's stories. Since January we have gotton to know each other quite well. I've watched her in action as she has held fund raisers for the search teams. She has gone through all of Joel's many many possessions and sorted them all out for storage for their daughter or for sale or donation. She's dealt with the lawyers, Joel's company and how to resolve that, the lack of a Will (EVERYONE go out NOW and write complete Wills ), how to sell his car, how to pay his bills and how to keep everyone okay. She's had a great circle of support but, more than anyone else, she has been the support to others. She and Joel had shared parenting responsibilities for Georgia and now Amy and G are adjusting to their new schedules and life under just one roof without Joel's great input and his warm home where G had spent half of her time. Yeah, I'm sure she went down to Saba upset about where circumstances about where Joel was found. I haven't spoken to her since her arrival home but I hope that there were answers. She is an impressive, giving, open, fabulous woman who maned this entire epic saga. I, for one, give her kudos a million times over for all she has done in the past eleven months.

Now it's time for us to say our good-byes, to wrap our arms around Georgia, to give thanks to everything Joel brought to our lives, and to sally forth.

Love light's Joel's path. God bless him.
Moongirl