Thank you all

I hardly know where to begin thanking you for your kind messages of condolence at the loss of Husband's Dad. I guess the only thing I can really say that will make sense is to tell you that your emails, cards and notes really, truly gave us great comfort at a difficult time. Those of you who have already experienced a similar loss understand what that means. Even those who haven't, have a sense of it.

I was particulary touched and comforted by a quote which was passed along to me by D.D. Degg, comic strip historian and all-around decent fellow. To wit:

One who died is only a little ahead
of the procession all moving that way.
When we round the corner, we'll see him again.
We have lost him for only a moment
because we fell behind,
stopping to tie a shoelace.
---J. M. Barrie

I can't describe what an enormous comfort those words were to this agnostic heart.

Somehow it made the vast gulf between me and my beloved "Dad O." feel quite a lot smaller.

ronnie

It's going to be quiet...

...around here for a little while. Husband's Dad passed away at about 1 pm yesterday. While he had been frail ever since he fell ill six years ago, it still happened very, very quickly, and the family, while not shocked or suprised, is numbed and sad. He is the patriarch of a big family and leaves behind a wife of 53 years, five sons, five daughters-in-law, five granddaughters, three grandsons, and a great-granddaughter, all of whom adore him.

There is a very, very big hole in our lives tonight, one that will feel smaller with time, but which will never be filled again.

ronnie