March 27, 1946, you were born in Clarksville, Tennessee. You started life thinking your father was dead. In 1957, when he showed up and you answered the door, he told you he was your daddy. You replied, "My daddy's dead." Funny - I was born in Ohio in 1957 and that was the year you moved here. I was born a couple months after you arrived in Ohio.

You would have turned 66 tomorrow. Once upon a time, I would have thought you'd be old at that age. Now, I know you were still…

I wasn't familiar with that phrase until I met Hollister. He told me, of his sister, "she's my heart." It made sense and, still, it didn't sink in all the way. I could tell why he said that - she was real and vibrant and, even in disability and declining health, more vital than most people could handle.

Tutti was larger than life. So was her brother Hollister. She gave Hollister a real surprise - she liked me. He told me that she'd never liked any woman in his life before me.…

This afternoon, I'm having company. It's the first time I've tried this since Hollister passed in December. Truthfully, the house has been a disaster, so I've been working on cleaning it up as well as getting ready with food, etc.

Well, the hot water tank has quit working. Yesterday, the water had a bit of a tinge o heat. Today, nada. A large bowl I'd been planning to use just broke from water heated on the stove. Yahoo. Happy St. Patty's Day - wasn't the infamous Murphy of…

I've got to move on . . . just a little. St. Patrick's Day is Saturday. I got cornered on Facebook and invited one person, who was Hollister's protege, and invited her to come to the house. Now, I've invited my sister, a friend of Hollister's, and his nephew and his family. I think that's enough.

It's not really a 'traditional' St. Patty's Day celebration. I'll be cooking on the grill - ribs are on the menu. Hollister loved when I grilled and we had people over to our house.…

Today marks two years since my mother passed on. That started a season of losses - my love's sister passing, his diagnosis with cancer, my Dad passing, and Hollister's death. Until Hollister died in December, I just kept moving. Once he passed, it's all ground to a stop.

Most of today, though, has been OK. A friend of Hollister's was on Facebook while I was and we had a good chat. I tackled the job of sorting through some of his college papers and did well with that. It wasn't…

Hollister died on December 23. He left just before Christmas. While he was in the hospital, all through December, he'd been preparing (behind my back) for Christmas. One day, I caught him with a large wad of money. He told me he wanted to get me something really special for Christmas. While we were talking, he asked if there was something really special I wanted. I told him that I had been wanting an expensive digital camera for some time - there was just never enough money, so I kept…