It’s been over a week since Sharon Sapienza was so abruptly taken from us and I keep hoping it is just a bad dream.

However, reality hits and I now realise that there will be no more impromptu meals with her and with her family when both of us happen to be in Malta at the same time.

The last time we managed to meet was in July last year.

I had planned to visit her and José in January because she had said that four years was too long and I agreed that, indeed, it was.

But, then, she needed to postpone because of her operation... Now, that time will never come.

I will miss her true friendship and her openly loving demeanor, with lots of hugs and kisses for all her friends and family.

Her words of encouragement and enthusiasm towards life are something I will live by.

I can still hear her warm words when we last spoke on the phone not long ago – “big hug, big kiss” – and those words will continue to be with me forever.

And now I leave her with this Irish blessing:

“May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face. May the rains fall upon your fields. And until, we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.”

All my love.