[crazychester]

Carol,

You should go buy yourself a bottle of wine (something nice, don't skimp), sit out in that big, beautiful garden of yours and get thoroughly blotty (in case that doesn't translate into US English, I mean drunk as a skunk). If you're saying you first found out reading this thread, all I can do is shake my head in despair and emit a low growl in the direction of murbot and kickaha. I assumed someone had done their darnedest to contact you and that your failure to appear in this thread was because you needed some time out to deal with it. Be kind to yourself.

Moogs,

Your post was great - both versions of it. It is about you. Grief might be directed at the dead but it's for the benefit of the living. As it should be. The dead have been released. It's the living who are still bound by the contract that says you must endure a certain amount of shitfulness in return for life. It doesn't mean you're not entitled to feel ripped off when the bill falls due.

You all need to stop beating yourselves up. You too, qroo. It's unhealthy. Grieving is fine. Even a certain amount of regret is OK. But feeling bad because you feel bad is not. You're allowed to feel bad. It disturbs me what some of you are doing to yourselves. It's the guilty about being alive thing. I suspect Jack would be less than pleased. In fact, I'm inclined to think he'd be appalled. So ease up on yourselves. Deal with it as you feel you need to but don't blame yourselves for needing to.