Well, its that time of year again. Holiday Season is starting to wind up to full speed, the kids and grandkids and even a few of the great-grandkids (from my parents perspective not mine) are starting to get excited as the Great Hallowed-candy-eve is quickly arriving. Thanksgiving, family visits to and from out of state, blah upon blah upon blah.
Some years are better and some years are worse, but this year it slapped me in the face like a fist full of wet fart, it will have been 30 years this December.
Jeez that line sounds a lot more cheerful and funny than it should, even though its pretty accurate.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about my deceased brother lately, as some do around such anniversaries, and earlier this evening, I came across a thread (can’t seem to easily locate it now) about what important events in history happened during your lifetime. The first shuttle disaster was a pretty common one. Happened just after the Arrow Air crash at Gander Newfoundland…
So this December is the 30 year anniversary of the 101st losing a plane full of soldiers (my brother among them) and I did not realize it had been that long.
Yeah, for a few years Holiday Season around our place was kinda…less than festive…thank heaven the first wave of grandkids/nieces/nephews came along to give us adults an excuse/reason to celebrate a little more cheerfully and a little less somberly
30 fucking years ago it happened, still sucks angry ferret ass.
Crap, I feel old, this shit is … I dunno … I guess I just needed to blow off some steam or something, even if only (maybe its better this way) to a message board full of anonymous(ish) people…
December will mark 21 years since my BIL killed himself and changed all our lives forever. The love and memories never fade no matter how they died; the years still go by and we still miss them. Hugs your way and a toast to those who have gone before.
My neighbor lost her brother around Christmas 2013. I don’t really know her all that well and we’re not very close, but she was so deeply hurt by it that I know this fact about her and I know she is now very sad around Christmas time.
This past Labor Day was the 40th anniversary of my mother’s death. I have been an orphan for 40 years! I know it is fact, but somehow it just doesn’t seem possible that so much time has gone by. Life whisks us along so quickly.
We’re also approaching a grim anniversary for me. The loss of some friends in a small plane crash. One was a former flight student of mine. I’d interrupted his training insisting he finish some background work prior to getting back in the airplane. He went to another much less disciplined instructor, and they both died in a crash soon afterward. This still bugs me after all these years and I wonder what I should have done differently. He was just a kid for crissakes…
Like the OP, this stuff makes me feel old and… (I don’t know either). Each year around this time I swear I’m gonna retire my instructor certificate. I’ve been to too many funerals in the last 30 years. Maybe this is the year…
In honor of your brother, guestchaz, I will break out the good stuff and toast him tonight. (and all the other losses in the thread too)
my thanks and sympathies to everyone. I just re-read what I originally posted and I swear I had a coherent train of thought when I started, guess it left without me.
Anyway, yeah, last night was very much worse than normal.
Its always surprising for some reason, though I know better, how many people have similar stories. Good to be reminded, it helps a lot.
