Beautifully written, Eideteker, and my condolances on the loss of your father.

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It was three years ago, but I've only just gotten my shit together enough to assemble the family for the scattering. But thank you; it means a lot to me that I have you guys to share things with.

My thoughts are with you Eid. It's something I'm fortunate to not know first hand, but when I need to, I hope my words come out as eloquently as yours.

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Big hugs to you, Eidy. So sorry for your loss. He must have been a great guy to have such a wonderful son. You do him proud.

Eideteker, thinking of you.

I wish you well. It is often said that time heals all wounds. That is bullshit. Time simply passes. As a devastating event recedes in time it becomes less immediate and less painful. That is not healing. It is just a lessoning. I hope you are healing. Best to you, Eideteker.

You can never let them go completely and that's a good thing. My dad's been gone for five years now and I still think about him almost every day. It's the only way to keep a little part of them alive after they're gone, since they only exist in your memory now. Hopefully, I'm a good enough dad myself that my son will have a hard time letting me go some day.

31.03.06

The funeral sucked. People disagreed and acted like babies over some photographs. It was awful.

I trust your get-together was a little classier.

That's one way to look at it, ChuckD. My family is really awesome and I shouldn't take that for granted.

Thanks to everyone who shared a moment of silence with me today (well, yesterday).

Peace to you, and seconding arse_hat. It isn't something that goes away. You have to deal with it in your own way, in your own time.

Sorry for your loss.

The biggest blessing of all and the greatest testament to a man's goodness is how he is remembered, actively, by those who survive him. The little blessings and the little testaments are to come, when he remembers himself to you, passively, when you aren't looking and you least expect it; you make the decision he would make, or you think the thought he might think, and he reminds you of where you came from and where you're going, and what to do when you're there.

Nothing fills the gap like memory and love. Go easy, my friend, and remember him well.