When The Holidays Mean Sadness

My mom passed away suddenly on Sepember 27 this year at the age of 65. And on Boxing Day 2001, my dad entered the hospital for the last time. He died of cancer on March 21, 2002. He was just 59.

So this Lio strip by Mark Tatualli sums up how my Christmas is going.

PZ Myers writes a post in his blog about how tough it can be. Here's a sample:

It hit home for me because the day after Christmas is my day of melancholy. It was the day after Christmas, 1993, that I got a phone call from my mother to let me know that Dad had died, unexpectedly, suddenly, quietly. It's a memory that colors my holiday season every year, and it's a strange thing — the grief and sadness never go away. One of the lies we always tell ourselves is that the pain will go away with time, that we'll get over it, that time heals all wounds, and it's not true.