holidays

Christmas Decorating at the Cemetery

Thumbnail image for Christmas Decorating at the Cemetery December 15, 2010

This past weekend Debbie and I went to the cemetery with Christmas trees. Once again we took small, real trees. We plan to take them and plant them somewhere later. Hopefully we’ll retrieve them before they disappear this time. Last year Debbie made strings of cranberries to put on the trees. Richard liked cranberries. Not that Jello [...]

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Mother’s Day

Thumbnail image for Mother’s Day May 10, 2010

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. A hard day for all bereaved moms. It was Debbie’s first Mother’s Day with Richard gone. It came with all the pain of no longer having him there to tell her “Happy Mother’s Day”, of not getting another goofy card from her kid and from just knowing he is gone. But [...]

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Easter

Thumbnail image for Easter April 4, 2010

It’s Easter Sunday. Another big family gathering day. Another check mark on our Year of Firsts check list. Our first Easter without Richard. I really hate these Year of Firsts check off items. But I’m pretty sure I’ll hate the Year of Seconds, and the Year of Thirds and on and on etc., etc., just [...]

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Christmas Morning 2009

Thumbnail image for Christmas Morning 2009 December 25, 2009

Dear Richard, It’s Christmas. You’re not here. It’s not the same without you. No country ham. We did have bacon, nice and crispy but not burnt. Sarah passed out the gifts. You weren’t sitting cross-legged on the floor to get yours. Your stocking was empty. Unless you count all the thoughts of love that we [...]

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My First Compassionate Friends Meeting

Thumbnail image for My First Compassionate Friends Meeting December 19, 2009

I always take off from work several days before the Christmas break. I did so this year too. So I was able to go to a meeting of The Compassionate Friends at our local chapter in Frankfort KY last night.  This is one of the more active chapters going. They hold a meeting twice each [...]

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Richard’s Fruit Salad

Thumbnail image for Richard’s Fruit Salad December 4, 2009

The holiday season has arrived. And for us that means family gatherings. My siblings, our children and our dogs meet at “The Farm” – my dad’s place. The Farm is 153 acres of rolling hills surrounded by creaks. There are ponds for fishing and plenty of woods to explore. The kind of place you can [...]

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Thanksgiving – Our First Big Holiday

Thumbnail image for Thanksgiving – Our First Big Holiday November 26, 2009

It’s Thanksgiving Day here in the USA. Time to give thanks to our maker for all the good things he has given us. It has also been six months since Richard died. So you probably think we won’t find anything to be thankful for. After all it’s hard to be thankful for grief, pain and [...]

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