Even before she got terminal cancer, Berna’s final wish was to go home…the home she knew as a child.

It’s a small place hidden amongst the trees of the Ocala National Forest.

As a youngster, she spent many hours swimming there in the Oklawaha River, which meanders slowly through the trees. Berna said an old turnstile – the remnant of a small bridge -  became her favorite diving spot.

So, I took her there…Well, I spread her ashes there — at the exact spot where she swam and had fun growing up. 

And yes, I cried as I watched her ashes drift and sink into the depths below. I cried…because I loved her so much…but also because I could only fulfill part of her simple lifelong wish.

She wanted to move back to where she grew up.

Berna inherited a small property from her dad. It was literally just down the lane from where her dad lived.  A weathered 1970s mobile home sat on the land. From years of abuse, the windows had been busted, and the bathroom floor was rotted. Plus, the ceiling showed water leaks and mold.
It needed a lot of work.

But she and I wanted to move there, then spend our later years living in the quiet of the woods.
However, the repair work and the expense were more than I had imagined! Plus, it was a two-hour drive simply to get there.

So, the progress was stop-and-go.

Bluntly, I failed to get it anywhere near finished before the cancer took her away.
There’s still so much to do.  

And now that Berna’s ashes are in her favorite river, I long more than ever to fulfill her dream. I want to live my last years near her.

But I live on Social Security. I have no money to accomplish this.

Can you help this 76-year-old man fulfill his wife’s dream?