Another week

It's another week since Joseph died. 

Are any of us doing well? Absolutely not. 

Is it getting any easier? Absolutely not.  
Has it changed the way we're living our lives? Absolutely.

We all say "I love you" more often. We hug more often. We're keeping in touch more often. 

Someone told me that my brother is not taking this well. Duh. How do you take it well? If you take it well, something is really wrong. 

I don't cry every day. I have periods of time where I don't think of Joseph, but I think of him more often now than when he was alive. We just take it for granted that people are there, til they're not. 

And next week is another fun anniversary. On the 25th, it will be two years since mom died. 

But in the meantime, we have two birthdays! Ralph will be 71 on Saturday the 21st. And Eddie will be 16 on the 23rd. So Heather has invited us all down on the 21st to celebrate. Birthday kid gets to pick the meal, so we're having pizza and pineapple stuffing. I'll pick up a couple of cakes at Sweet Eats. And we'll hang out and enjoy everyone's company. Bonus, Ralph got a new truck, and his old one, a 2007 Ford F150 with low mileage, is being Eddie's birthday gift. He guessed that he's getting it, but doesn't know when. It's a big heavy truck with 4 wheel drive, a terrific first vehicle! 

So we will have some fun this week.