I know there’s no wrong way to grieve but…

George, I hope you sit inyour new place,
and look at the old house in the rear view
mirror. I don't know what God plans for
us in a year, but I intend to stay on GIC
as long as I can. In a way, it's like my AA.
I help others, and others help me. Lou

 

Thanks, youngest brother. Linda saw
Steely Dan in concert, and loved their
music. As you can see from my talks with
our middle brother, Gary, I was more into
Creedence Clearwater Revival ( CCR), The
Band ( especially the song, The Weight),
the blues, Sinatra, Johnny Cash, etc. Did
you ever see the movie, The Big Chill?
All the actors were a little older than I am,
in real life. They captured the time of
their lives, 10 years after Vietnam. We
bought the soundtrack CD, bc we liked
every song. Lou

 

That is so cool ShakMan!

 

CCR is awesome!

 

I love the Dan and CCR is awesome to! At least I can get into the tunes. Valerie hated music but she didn't mind people screaming at each other on Springer, Wilkos and Maury... It disgusted me!

 

Love Johnny Cash too! BTW!

 

George, wish we could talk on the phone.
We'd have a lot of laughs. We are both
younger at heart, than our chronological
ages.I like our talks about music. As this
holiday ends. we can pat each other on the
back, and say we were true GF!! Better
days ahead, my brother! Lou

 

George I liked your first post this morning so well I took a photo of it so I could look at it without getting online. You are TUGW. I’m proud of all you’ve accomplished moving forward. My niece invited me over to her home for Thanksgiving. it was just Laura and I. We are the soul survivors of what’s left of our family. I had a good bawling jag eating my salad before the chicken and noodles then apple pie. It felt good to purge the grief. I was better able to explain to Laura what this feels like. And I relaxed and didn’t feel so anxious. We took a nice walk with her dog Vixen. It was a great time. A good friend just dropped off a Thanksgiving dinner and we had a nice one hour visit. I like the way Bernadine used the metaphor of “the glue that binds us all together” describing our pack leader/Godfather the UPM (George and my role model/older brother) Lou. Deb it’s wonderful to have you back cheering us on the battlefield against Mr Grief again. My confidence level is higher. Like Robin said earlier, this day will turn out better than We anticipated. Rest well TGW. Tomorrow we will be on the battlefield again united stronger than ever. Gary

 

Hey, middle brother. Gary! I'm beginning
to think you and George are my real
brothers. I'm so proud of you, braving
this family holiday like you did. I think that after Linda died, and I was alone, I had a
choice between meeting people ( on &
off. GIC), and "rolling myself in a big ball&
die", as Sinatra sang, in That's Life. Bc I'm
the pack leader, I won't go to bed until
Deb comes home. So far, I've talked with
our younger, also brave warrior brother,
George, and Bernadine. Lou

 

George,

Thank you!!!

 

George,

I'm just getting here. Got home about 8 p.m. Then I talked to my son for almost two hours!!! If you think I can "talk" a lot here, you probably wouldn't want to see how much I can really talk!!!, TU!!!

Backing up a bit, I'm so sorry you had such a rough day... This is only the second post I've read since coming home. But, before I read anything else, I'm sending lots of hugs, love, your way... All of this just SUCKS BIG TIME!!!, TU!!! Short, but it says it all...

Sending many more hugs your way, wishing you peace, all of us peace. DEB

 

Bernadette,

We have another thing in common, lol!!! While yours is permanently deformed, a cactus original... Mine just withered away...

I love how you take such good care of yourself... It's wonderful that your home is your cozy, safe place. I'm glad that so far, the holiday season is off to a good start...

As always, sending you hugs, wishing you peace, all of us peace. DEB

 

Lou,

No need to feel guilty!!! It makes me smile, knowing that you enjoyed Thanksgiving. I think I can safely speak for all TGW when I say that I'm positive they are happy for you too!!!

As always, sending you hugs, wishing you peace, all of us peace. DEB

 

Lou,

You can go to sleep now, I'm back, lol!!!

I'm super frazzled, emotionally and physically drained, so I'm making this a short one. (Of course thinking of Bob right about now...) Very loooooooong story short, it was a very bittersweet day/night, but and this is one of those really BIG BUTS!!!, I'm glad that I decided to go to my friend's house. Will "talk" about it tomorrow.

As always, sending you hugs, wishing you peace, all of us peace. DEB

 

Gary,

Thanks for the smiles... Although bittersweet, I'm glad you had a nice Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, although bittersweet for me too, turned out better than I thought it would.

Super fried, so going to take your advice and try to get some rest... TGW are the absolute best!!!, TU!!! We CAN AND WILL GET THROUGH THIS TOGETHER!!!

Sleep well... Good dreams only...

As always, sending you hugs, wishing you peace, all of us peace. DEB

 

Hi Lou, Bernadine, Deb,Karen,Robin, Stacey,
Gary, George,and others,
Took me awhile searching to find your recent posts.
Lou, am so glad you had Thanksgiving with your
friends. Gary It was good to hear you were with
your niece today, have you done any hunting lately?
George, you are amazing, oh my goodness all
you have accomplished, it warms my heart to
hear you and your son will be all moved into
your apartment very soon. I have been keeping
you in prayer. Deb, it has been really cold here
mornings have been in low 20’s. My niece, her
family live at Hilton Head ( not sure if spelt right.)
Farthest south I’ve been is to Columbia SC.
Karen, are you still planning on moving?
How is your arm? I’m praying it completely healed.
Bernadine, my name is Patti, my Dear Husband
name is Jack. I lost Jack to Parkinson’s Disease.
I have found GIC to be a wonderful
grief support site, the folks here in SGW ‘s are a
Blessing, it took me two years to even think about
looking for an on line grief support group, I do
believe God had a hand in my finding GIC. My
Condolences to you on loss of your dear husband.
November is a difficult month for so many of
us, WE are all here for each other.

Night, time for JayCee and I to get our zzz’s.
Everyone please take care of yourselves. Hugs
To each of you. Blessings, Patti

 

Patti, THANK YOU for joining us on
Thanksgiving. Many of us were worried
how we'd be with other people, but, from
what I've seen, the ones, like me, who went out, were glad they did. The ones who
stayed home, bravely got through the day,
like George & Bernadine. I went to sleep at
my usual 10:30 time. But, I had a wild,
convoluted dream, with famous people
as guest stars. As I told Deb, both of us
have vivid imaginations. I love to quote
her: TOTAL UNDERSTATEMENT!!! She uses
some of the same funny phrases Linda
did. I can finally tell friends, and even
strangers, about the good times we had.
Karen and you were the first people to
welcome me here. So much has happened,
and so much up & down emotion in our
grief journey, that it's hard to believe I've
been with this group for only 4 months.
Thank you for welcoming Bernadine. I'm
not sure if you've talked with Stacey, out
in Calif. Her user name is " Marcey". Well,
I'm wide awake at 4am. but I don't mind.
I can always take a nap later. I hope to go
to my friendly CHEERS like bar on the
usual Friday night. It's good to go there,
and not drink alcohol, just have a seafood
dinner & have fun. I feel better physically & mentally than I did 2 years ago, a year
after Linda died. Hope you have a peaceful
day after, anf write to us when you can,
Patti. Lou

 

Linda liked Family Feud, with Steve
Harvey. I found the show to be loud &
annoying, & would leave the room. Linda
also watched The Hoarders, as a way of
release, bc her parents were hoarders &
caused us so much needless pain in our
early years of marriage. I thought the
show was disturbing, and that many of
the people had a mental illness, to live in
such clutter & filth. As much as you and
Valerie accumulated over the years, it
couldn't begin to be as bad as this. You
can be proud, now, that you undertook
such a monumental task. Lou

 

I totally agree with you! She too grooved to Hoarders and the Feud. I found FF so obnoxious! And you are so right about hoarders. I'd put up with her bad TeeVee any time now if she were still here! But then I would have been annoyed by it so it is a cycle of futility! At least there wasn't the filth factor in the junk I had to get rid of Bro! She got into the most disturbing shows like a lot of True Crime murder stuff and Chefs yelling and swearing at each other competitions too! I got my 5 hours of sleep!

 

Hey Deb I wish I could write as much as I talk. Hey we got through the day and I'm not gonna let myself feel too bad today (I hope). I talk a lot or I used to when I had people to talk to. My job everyday before disability was to talk Talk talk, incessantly to kidz about Science stuff! I guess that goes with the whole teaching thing!