Hello, friends.  Just a quick update: I have now moved in to the editing phase.  Admittedly, most of that so far has been scratching my head and wondering where to dive in at.  Fear not, though, I’ve done a bit.  When I complete major milestones, I’ll make an entry about them so you can stay updated!

For the meat of this, I’ve been thinking a lot about the holiday season.  As some of you may know, my father died in March due to complications from cancer.  Though he’d officially achieved remission, the chemotherapy had weakened his body, and he succumbed to multiple infections a few weeks after his final treatment.  Then just three months later, we had to euthanize our eldest dog for the same cancer.  A double-whammy year for sure on that front.  Yesterday, I helped my mom decorate a Christmas tree at her house.  This was the first time we’d decorated a tree without my dad.  You think you don’t know how to handle that kind of thing, but it’s weird the adaptive power the human brain has.  It was just muscle memory: these lights are here, and they strand like this.  The garland is next, and these are the ornaments we always put up.  At the end, it looked just like a tree we decorated as a family – only my dad didn’t help.

Though I think some of my family is maybe a little surprised by how outwardly composed I am, the truth is a lot of moments are hard.  It’s hard to have Thanksgiving without him.  It’s hard knowing I won’t hear his laughter this time around when he yells at the corgi to stop eating wrapping paper.  It’s sort of a lonely feeling, and I imagine anyone who’s lost a loved one knows what I’m talking about.  But the truth is we’re never alone.  We have friends and family.  This year, a friend got married.  Two different couples had their first babies.  Another couple had their third, and another announced they were pregnant with a second.  Life is still coming.

We’re not alone.  We’ve built a network with whom we can celebrate joyous occasions and bask in their happiness, and in turn, they help soften the sadness, the loss, the anger.  They help diffuse our sorrow so we may once again be triumphant.  So please, remember that you have friends and family who care for you.  The ones you are closest to and trust most will be there for you if you need to open up or talk.  Do not be afraid to talk: a conversation is among our strongest remedies.