Dear Doug, I've just read through a lot of your postings. I guess for me it's a way of connecting a little bit better. I often do it when I want to reply to someone with more than my usual "quip or joke" style. I can't really imagine the loss you're feeling right now, even though a number of my good friends have passed in the last couple of years. I know what it feels like to "almost" lose a friend (even though we'd never met at that point) and I think I know how devistated I would be if Heather were not here with me. We've only been together 11 years, and somehow I feel that we're just STARTING to really understand each other. We won't have 48 years because we met much later than you and Velma did. You folks were very lucky, and even though you've said her health was bad for a long time, I'm sure your kindness made it much easier to deal with. How do I know about your kindness? It was a love for folk music that brought you to this community, and I've been around folk people for a lot of years. With all their different tastes, politics, religions and lifestyles, they ALL have shared a common quality. They care about people first. That's why I stay with the folk community, both in person and now, on-line. Hope you'll be here for a long while yet.

Rick