Thank you all for the nice words. :) Marthe: THANK YOU for telling me about your father. Maurice. He wasn't old either. And YES it's the same, age doesn't count when you love someone. Especially someone as close to you as a FATHER. I am sorry again, for everything. Ourselves we had the MIRACLE of not seeing my father suffer. He did NOT suffer you know. I am so glad about that. I thank God and the Sky for that. Pancreatic cancer can indeed cause a lot of pain I have heard. But even one hour before he died (at home) he told us "I'm OK". He died because one of his "blood-veines" broken up. It was horrible and impressive to see for my mother and I who were the two persons present BUt when the doctor arrived he told us: "Louis did not suffer, he lost conscience, he didn't realise what was happening". About the grandparents, I miss mine now. All deceased (my papy Côme (87) & mamie Renée (60); my papy Jean-Félix (93!) & mamie Marie (she died when I was only 1 year old, I do not remember her). They were nice persons. But I was young when they left us. And I WISH I could have been "nicer, cooler" with them. I was OK, but still young and "selfish". Not really interested in my... "old" grandparents. :( Gaffer'sGirl, you live in a great place. Thanks for sharing the photos and the informations. :hug Hehe miam honey! And eggs, my mom has 6 cool hens. We have our delicious daily bio-eggs. :) :wink: GNAT, it's cool you still have one grandfather and it's great you'v' got a nice stepfather. :)

That would have been difficult to witness your father's death, Nicolette. I'm sorry to hear that happened :hug, but it is nice to hear he did not suffer. I am really enjoying living here and I'm only about a 1/2 mile from my parents. I haven't lived that close since I left home many years ago.

It must have been really hard to see your father die, Nicolette. I really feel for you, though it must be comforting to think he did not suffer. :hug About the grandparents, I miss mine now. All deceased (my papy Côme (87) & mamie Renée (60); my papy Jean-Félix (93!) & mamie Marie (she died when I was only 1 year old, I do not remember her). They were nice persons. But I was young when they left us. And I WISH I could have been "nicer, cooler" with them. I was OK, but still young and "selfish". Not really interested in my... "old" grandparents. I see what you mean, Nicolette. There was a great difference in how I reacted to my mother's father's death and to my father's parents' death. I was only 6 when my mother's father died (at 57) and though I wish I had had more time to spend with him, I don't have many memories of him and I was too young when he passed away to really miss him. I was 29 when I lost my father's mother and 31 when I lost my father's father, so I was aware of how great a loss I was suffering.

Thank you BOTH. Really. You are nice persons. :) Yes, he did not suffer and it's what makes me feel OK, most of all. And we KNEW he was going to die, for about 6 months. But yes, it was still very hard to see death happening to someone you love, most of all for my mother. Indeed I had to let her alone for 15 minutes, because the FireFighters (we call them in emergency cases) did not know where our house was so I had to go and "guide" them, with a nice sir who took me with him in his car in order to search for them and guide them. My mother is courageous you know. Tough person. I admire her for that. :) It must have been terrible FOR HER. It is great Gaffer'sGirl that you can see your parents often. Do not move from here if you can. :wink: :cool: God bless you all. Your grand-father was young too Frances! 57. I am sorry. And EXACTLY, we do not react in the same way when we are young and more... mature, adult. I remember well my father's father Jean-Félix, personaly. :) He had lived with us for two years, at the end of his long life. Indeed he was 93 years old when he left us. He was a tall skinny man, cool and with, really, "an elephant memory"! He knew about everything, haha. I even remember one day my mathematics professor, when I was 10, being stunned becaus9. I miss her too. And I WISH I had known my father's mother. My mémé Marie. My parents told me she loved me, was happy to have finally a little girl in the family (all males until me! :mrgreen: ). TWO years difference ONLY between the death of your grand parents. I am so sorry, that's terrible Frances. I guess how much you suffered. I'm thinking about your father too. What is also terrible is to see persons you love suffering too of the loss of someone you BOTH loved. It worsen the situation for yourself. I am sorry!

I hope your Father Day was very nice. :) My mother and I went to the cemetery on friday because we couldn't go there yesterday. We let candles and flowers.

We had a very pleasant Father's Day. Several of us met at my parents' house. We gave Dad some CD's for recording his albums. He and Mom love music. Both did a lot of singing in their younger years. We also had some Key Lime Pie which was wonderful and one of Dad's favorites. So a nice day all around. Glad to hear you and your Mom were able to get together and remember your Father, even if it wasn't right on Father's Day, Nicolette. It's hard even to lose Grandparents, but a parent must be so much harder, especially because you are so young. :hug

Hi Gaffer. :) Thank you. Yes, it was nice my mother and I could have visited my father's grave and my grandfather's grave. I was 24 when my dad died. Well, I know a young 14 years old girl named Anaïs who just lost hers. So there... how to say that... I "relativize" things. I mean, there is always "worse". I mean thar at least I could have enjoyed the presence of my dad until I was 24. About you, it is great your family celebrated your father in a very nic way. :) Oh I didn't know they used to sing. Artists. :wink: Bravo. :) So yes hee, I guess he did enjoy your gifts! :wink: Miam, about the pie. Seems to be delicious. Look by the way, I just found out a recipe. Was it the same one? http://www.andreasrecipes.com/2007/06/01/key-lime-pie/ Have a nice tuesday. Here it rains a little little bit (again). :???:

The pie looks similar, but I'm afraid mine was store bought. The recipe looks great and I may have to try it sometime. Just to clarify, my parents didn't sing professionally. My Dad was a pilot. They sang in school and church choirs. My Dad sang in Barber Shop quartets. And during the Christmas Holidays, my Mom would play the piano and we would sing all the verses of Carols. So, music is more their hobby.

Nicolette - I'm sorry that you were so young when you lost your dad. But I'm glad you and your mom were able to go and honor him and his memory! Gaff - sounds like you had a lovely day! I love key lime pie as well. It's a great summer treat - if it's made right. :wink: Baker's Square has a really good key lime pie. We had a nice day too. Unfortunately, my stepdad ended up having to work all day. The idiot he hired to be a supervisor to help him out didn't do her job all week last week, so he ended up having to do that ON TOP of the daily stuff he had to do anyway. :angry2: So I cooked hot dogs, burgers and brats on the grill so he didn't have to. And I bought an ice cream cake for him as well. We had perfectly beautiful weather in the afternoon. It didn't start out so good, we had really nasty storms that morning. Of course. :roll: In fact, I actually got some hail! But then the sun came out, it was really humid, but eventually by early evening the humidity went away and it was a beautiful evening.

Gaff I see you had a beautiful father's day. What a musical family. Singing together brings a lot of joy in the family. And your dad was a pilot, that is a job with a great responsability. With which plane did he fly and where ? And as for the music, my father also loved it. He could not sing but he liked to dance. We have danced a lot and I miss it. Gnat, I am glad you had a nice day and that you cooked for your stepdad an bought him an ice cream. You must really love him. And then a beautiful evening and the day is perfect. :love:

Yes Marthe, we had a wonderful time. We love dancing, too. In fact, two of my sisters are taking lessons every Tuesday night. I went last week. It is more for fun and to become better. None of us, is anywhere near the level of Silvia and Cris, but we have fun dancing. I took some ballet and modern dance as a kid and enjoyed it. Sounds like you enjoy it the way we do. Our singing is much the same, we can all carry a tune. A few of my siblings can harmonize ( not me) and we just had a lot a fun. My Dad was a Marine Corp pilot, so he started in Jets, but being a big guy he ended up flying KC-130 cargo planes during the Vietnam conflict. He flew the VIP plane for a few years. After he retired from the service, he flew Cargo for several companies - C-130's and 707's. He always wanted to fly a 747, but never got the chance. Surprisingly, he doesn't fly anywhere now.

True. They still travel, but by land in their RV. I suspect that he has a hard time trusting other pilots and he can't fly a plane anymore.

Wow Gaff! I didn't know your dad was a Marine Corp pilot! My stepdad would be so impressed. He was a Marine, traveled everywhere by way of the Squid. :wink: Anyway that's cool! I can understand about him not wanting to fly anywhere. I hate doing it and I've never flown a plane. :happy But it's like people who work at like McD's or Burger King - they won't eat that food. They'd rather go to like the Wendy's up the road. Or even Chili's or something just so they don't have to eat the very stuff they've been staring at for 6 hours or so.

Very much like that, I'm afraid. My Dad retired as a Bird Colonel which is just below General. And yes, there is always a camraderie there. He was off flying most of my childhood - gone 4 to 8 weeks at a time, not to mention 3 - full year overseas tours flying supplies in and out of battle zones in support of ground troops. His plane was big and slow, so quite a target. We heard many stories growing up, so it's a wonder any of us are willing to fly. :blink: In fact, one of my brothers just won't. Send good wishes to your stepfather.