A new year

Another year.

It snowed much of the New Year's weekend. Alex worked a 24-hour shift on New Year's day, then a 12-hour shift on the following day, followed by another 24-hour shift on Sunday into Monday. Mount Auburn was closed Sunday when we went, so I went Monday morning. Bright sunshine, made brighter by the snow. Nick is still there, and of course not there.

Sara came for dinner tonight. It was great to see her, and good to have the time together. Her brother Daniel has grown a lot, and she talked about how he is "huggable" now, and how if he keeps growing ... We talked about shoe sizes - Alex pointed out his feet are size 13. Elizabeth said he got his hands from me and his feet from her, and we measured his hands against mine, then mine against Sara's - we agreed Nick's hands were bigger than mine, how he could fold the tops of his fingers down over her fingertips. It's like a knife sometimes.

Dianne Arakawa preached on the first chapter of John yesterday - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. She talked about how John begins at the beginning, how the point is that we are with God, and of God, before we are. I think it's a way of connecting with the unknowable - we don't know where we come from, we don't know where we're going to. We find out, in the end.

New York Times article on grief

This is a quick note.   The Times ran an interesting article on grief today (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/health/29grief.html).   They describe an approach to dealing with "extreme grief" - involves writing about the death in detail, and using the act of putting the description away to learn how to "put the feelings away."  Interesting, but I'm not sure the author or the psychiatrist interviewed (M. Katherine Shear) have actually had to try this.  I'm not being critical - just wonder.   I may try it.   The post will be well labeled.

Labor Day weekend

For us, Labor Day weekend has been defined as Ferry Beach since 1992.    Each year saw the boys a year older, and us as well, though the changes are not always as obvious.    The beach changes too, and still it is in some ways a constant.   This photo is from 2005.   Alex will be at school this weekend, but we will be at Ferry Beach again.

For some time I have felt it was time to begin a place where those of us who loved Nicholas could share remembrances of him. Whether you are extended family, friends or classmates, welcome. I also wanted a scrapbook of sorts, so if you have photos of Nick that you would like to share, please send them in. This is a start.