Went to my family Christmas get together today...

It was actually really fun. I got to play with my young cousins, who are goofy, let me just say. Anyway, the point of me posting this is because my cousin Lisa made a slide show of old pictures of my mom's family. It was so moving. Had me thinking about how different everything is at our get togethers now.
Grandma died when I was 12. She's been gone for a while, but I can still hear her laughing at us kids singing Christmas carols in her kitchen.
My dad has been gone for ten years. He loved Christmas and loved us kids so fiercely. I can still hear his contagious laughter after telling one of his dirty jokes.
The cousin who I spent every moment of those things with died when I was 15 and he was 14. We always had the most fun as kids. I'm super close to his sister now. I just wonder what kind of a man he would have become. I wonder if he would have a family now...
Then my sister passed in 2000 and it just doesn't seem right that she's not there to make me laugh when we're lining up for pictures. And it just isn't fair that she didn't get to have her little boy and we didn't get to share Christmas lights and Santa with him.

I never dwell on this stuff, but it kinda crept up on me today. I didn't post this for sympathy or anything. I just wanted to share. I know there are a lot of people out there who have been thru this kinda stuff too. I hope you guys are having a happy season, and I hope no one is alone. I hope all year you have at least one person who you can count on to be there and love you. I know how important that is, because i lost the one person who had been there for me since I was born. My sister. If you don't, then I will take over that job. Everyone deserves to have at least one person who can be counted on for ANYTHING.
Sorry for the ramble...it's been a long day...
Duckie

and how true it is that we all will live on in the memories we make for others. It's a tough time for me too this year adjusting to the loss of a sister who sounds very much like yours. We will get through it I know and still that doesn't always make it easier.

I really hadn't thought about my dad in the way he was portrayed in those pictures in a really long time. And the pictures of my sister are all over my mom's house, so every time I go back, it makes me sad. More about my mom who lives in the past and truly believes that she has no future.
Duckie