Lots

Lots and lots of love

lots and lots of bones

lots and lots of toys.......

Lots of living and dying has been going on around here.

Last Summer 2011 Sunrise

Summer is gone and with it,

so died my Aunt Tody. (pronounced  toad-ee).

My grandfather named her Tody because she

"hopped like a toad" when she was a kid.

She was my Moms only sister.

Big sister.

Mom has taken her death very hard.

Her dementia keeps her from fully grasping reality,

but she fully understands and knows her sister is dead.

I tried as best I could to help her deal with it,

 but she never really got to say

good-bye.

Its the same when my brother was killed in 1976.

She didn't get to say goodbye to him either.

All of a sudden

they are

gone

and you never get to

see

them

again.

No touch, no look, no nothing to make this real.

All you see is a coffin.

The body of the one you love is in it.

AND

you are supposed to fine with this.

Accept it, take it, let it be.

In the end

you do or don't.

It is the last choice you have.

I went to my friend Brenda's memorial today. She died of cancer at age 54.

We grew up together and she married my brother Ben.

They divorced, but as with alot of divorces, 

family ties are strong. 

She had  3 boys (from a previous marriage) and they still love and adore my brother and still talk to him alot. He has been a positive force in their lives.

Her death comes at the same time as another friend of my mom and I, Clifteen.

She died last week.  Another friend from here died of cancer, Gary. He wasn't even 60.  My friend Kathy lost her daughter at age 16 last week. My heart aches for her.

Circle of life.

There is nothing but life.

With death everywhere

life is everywhere.

Some one told me once that dying is as natural as being born.

well,

its just as ugly and you don't end up with a baby.

Where would we be if we couldn't laugh?

We are all in this together.

God's speed to all on the way out of here.

We will meet again.

Last Summer 2011 sunset

ma