Well, I made it through my first birthday without Ariel in 15 years.  Overall it went pretty well. I started the day with something for Memorial Day I'd heard from a lady at the support group I attended last Wednesday.  I went to the store, got a helium balloon, wrote some things to Ariel on it, and let it go into the sky.  I like that symbolism a lot better than writing a letter and burning it.  It was hard in some ways and had me crying more than once.  However, it did feel like a way to…

Last night I got to talk to the lady from the grief support group that I'd been put in contact with as a mentor.  I hadn't talked with her in several weeks, and it was good getting to catch up.  The first part of the conversation was just checking in, how I'm doing with work, with sleep, with eating, and so on.  She seemed to think I'm doing pretty well with the day-to-day stuff right now.  I'll take her word for it, as it sure diesn't feel like it to me right now.

Where it…

Ariel had gotten me an electornic gift card from Amazon for $50 for Christmas, with the request that I use it for something fun. I finally got around to ordering a couple things that'd seemed fitting, a couple of books on Bagua and a plush toy from a movie we'd seen last fall and really liked.  Those came in on Saturday.  The books were good to get, and have been interesting to read through so far.  I think there'll be a lot to digest there, and it'll be good to have them help with my…