Thanks, my friends. I am talking, and I am spending time with friends, although many of them are caught up in their own lives and are just plain busy. There's a small cadre of friends who loved Byron too and are shattered by his death; musicians who had just formed a group with him who are now without focus or vision. We cling to each other, spend as much time as we can together, cry together.

I am indeed learning that this isn't something I'll "get over"- ever. The thing that saddens me most is how cheated I feel- we finally had found each other, and in less than 2 years he's gone. What's the point of that?

I'm back to teaching music, and it's so hard, putting on my "teacher persona" for 7 hours a day, especially Halloween week. I'm not doing my usual "ghosts and graveyards" stuff, just some sweet minor tunes that I can tolerate. But by the end of the day I feel like one whose fingers are just barely clinging to the edge of the cliff.

So I just wanted to hear from you Wise Catters about your experiences, and it does help.
Thanks,

Allison