Joe, you get the honor of being just like the rest of us. They never tell you that you can bounce back and forth between stages, and even find yourself in several at once.

Losing parents is especially tough. At the end of the day, I felt like I was walking on the high wire, by myself, for the first time. Fortunately, I could, in fact, accomplish this. Seems that being raised by them left me with two parent simulators I could run at will. Kinda handy, but I’d still rather have them around.

My mother died Christmas day, which still casts a filmy pall over the holidays. But, we’ve learned to incorporate little bits of her knowledge into our lives. For my mother, it was recipes. So, we cook something from her recipe file.

For my dad, we always take his rifle down to the shooting range for father’s day. It was one of the few activities we really enjoyed together.

For my grandfather, I still use some of his tools, and feel that connection whenever I build something, or go fishing.

You’ll find little things to help you get through this. Best just to accept them.