St. Agnes' Eve

   "Ah, bitter cold it was"
    January 20, 1966 
    Charles Anthony Madigan       Rest in Peace

    Suddenly, without warning or notice, a parent is gone and your life is changed.  Changed forever, as they are wont to say, but is there any other kind of change but one that forever impacts your life in some manner?  You grow up with two parents and one is abruptly gone.  The family circle is broken,  childhood's illusion of permanence is irrevocably shattered, and you now know anything can happen: to anyone, at any time.
     New Year's Day, 1978   Ma has a heart attack.  She was mashing potatoes for New Year's Dinner for us all, and was stricken with a terrible pain in her chest.  Helen called for help, and we drove Ma to the hospital, leaving the kids with Helen.  Ma survived that attack and lived for another five years, but the grieving for her began on the start of that new year.  Many say, when faced with the impending death of a loved one, that they want to crawl into the coffin with them, but we don't; we live on, we just bury a part of ourselves.