hmm.. had no idea that anyone didn't know that. hi!

hi! From ACCboards days...has been..............a while.

My grandmother. She was the matriarch of our family, and a very strong and willful woman. Christmas was HER holiday...she used to wrap individual advent gifts for each of her 12 grandchildren. That's 300 individually wrapped small gifts. She did it, even when she got sick, up until I was almost 30 years old.

She died a year ago September. Last Christmas the whole family got together, and we celebrated her...so while I missed her, it was not that bad. This Christmas is completely different. Even though we all got together, there was a sense that the glue that held us all together was gone. We may get another 1 or 2 family Christmases together, but it really feels like everyone will start drifting apart now. She really was the heart and soul of that side of my family, and I really really miss her.

I feel lucky to be like eamhokie, I've only known well a handful of people who have died.

This year I miss Ray Mann who was an old friend. We lost touch over the years but he was the kind of friend I always looked forward to catching back up with some day..

TF... i felt badly for not including him in my post. it's strange.. because he would always come in and out of my life for such long stretches of time, it has felt more like he's just out of touch with me, rather than him being gone forever. i spoke to his dad a few weeks ago. 12/12 was he and guy's birthday. i felt so sorry for his father.

context for the rest of the board... raymond and his twin brother were 48 years old and died 7 months apart, from totally unrelated causes. his father lost both of his sons in the same year.. a year after losing his wife. just very sad to me.

ray was my oldest daughter's father. terpfaith and i somehow figured out one night on here that we both knew him.

dont be a hater...

Lost my Dad last night. If I'm ever half the Dad to my daughter he was to me my life will be a smashing success.

Sorry for your loss.

Sorry to hear that, sugarmag. Sounds like he was a great man. All the best.

I miss the big fella, Jim haggerty, who died a little over a year ago. My parents have reached an age where death is virtually a daily part of their existence. I can't imagine living that way and how hard it must be but I guess it beats the alternative.

Sorry for your loss.

Ain't that the truth. Last summer, we were at the beach and one day I got in my car to drive down the street to a store. As I pulled out of the condo parking lot, I saw a little boy holding his father's hand ... and all I could think about was being that little kid, holding my dad's hand at the beach. I started crying like a little baby right there in the car. If anyone saw me, they would have thought I was nuts. I guess I was.