Allison, I've been thinking about your last post -- the friends who also lost Byron coming over and being with you -- and I realize how much I envy you that. When my daughter died, it was by suicide, and other than my husband (who was not her father), my remaining daughter, and one good friend who is more like a sister, I had no one, and went through mourning virtually alone. Some people blamed me because my daughter had killed herself. Some people were church-goers who couldn't get past the fact that in their eyes, suicide is a sin. One neighbour told me that God never gives us more than we can bear, so my daughter was a coward who lacked enough strength. Mostly people were just too uncomfortable to ever call.

It was hard, although I didn't know it at the time -- I'm just realizing it now, reading of your circle of friends. Please know how much you have, and probably deserve, and let them help you, and you help them as much as possible. You are fortunate in your friendships.

This was difficult to write.