four years already

Today is a tough day for my family - it is the fourth anniversary of our beloved mother's death. One thing that has been helping is the website that my brother set up for us several weeks ago (and all our relatives - it is set up for all the extended family) to contribute to - primarily photographs... at least those are the most important things to me. This has had me sorting through a vast collection of photographs of our family, mostly from when we were children, back to when our father was still with us too. I find it soothing. Still, I am aware that each person reacts differently to painful events in their lives. One of my siblings and one of my cousins (that I know of) do not like to look at photographs that might stir up thoughts of their loss. I find myself appreciative of anything that reminds me of my mom's presence.

I am reminded of when I was taking a computer class the year after my mother's death. The day came when it was the one-year of her passing and I decided to miss class that day; I came back the next day and described to my classmate why I had been gone. So there we were standing outside the building talking and he told me that his father had died that very morning. He wanted to go to class to take his mind off of the sadness. We all deal with things differently and as best we can.