WHEN A LOVED ONE DIES WHAT DOES ONE SAY? Well, this morning, I received in quick succession the following: Hello Gwen, Thank you for your beautiful message and your kindness. I know what you mean. Everybody has their cross to carry. It is horrible what happened to you. If it is any comfort, you had all those amazing people in your life. I have no siblings, never had a husband, nor children, not even a boyfriend; I mean now, not never. Don't have time for friends, so they are slowly moving away and there is nothing I can do. I work very hard, 9 hours a day, 6 days a week. But it's nice to know there are people who care. Thank you Gwen. Have a happy Sunday and see you around. ::: COMPARE, IF YOU WILL: Gwen dearest, My heart goes out to you. These 18 months you have walked a painful path indeed. I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like to say farewell to so many loved ones in such a short space of time, the vastness of the empty spaces they left, how very lonely you must feel. I hope, that in the stillness and quiet, you will in time receive the benediction of peace. I must admit that lately I find myself reflecting on the impermanance of all things quite a lot. Hugs, ::: Oh boy. To me it was ironic, more than "horrific". Life falls down in mid-flight. Live long enough, we all get there. Relatives, friends, pets, live long enough, they do go. I learned that lesson by age 5 when our "perfect" little brother Peter, then age 8, was instantly killed by a drunk driver. My parents, although devastated of course, turned Marcel the driver of the truck, into a lifelong family friend. It wasn't until many dacades later, in an odd twist of Fate, that Marcel whom I did not know at all, the Editor-in-Chief of a trade school magazine gave me my very first magazine job with my own by-line. Unheard of for a female in those days. I didn't learn who he was until my late 40s when I happened to mention in passing to my California sister, that Marcel had once been my boss which made her do a triple-take as she told me who he was. ::: That is irony.