It's that time of year again...

June is here again, and that means 4 things for me:

• My anniversary with my employer (10 years now)


• Father's Day - another of those unholy "Hallmark Holidays" I despise (more on that some other time)


• My older sister's birthday


• For the past 4 years...remembering and missing Bethany (not that I don't remember and miss her year round - it's just more intensely emotional in June).

Bethany was killed in a car accident just three days after her 22nd birthday, which was June 10, 2004.



For those who may read this and are not yet versed on the subject, Bethany was more or less my daughter-in-law. She married the son of my life partner, John, and was the mother of our grandson. More importantly, Bethany was a close friend whose characteristics so closely resembled my own in early adulthood, it was hard to believe she was not some long-lost little sister my family forgot to tell me about. The circumstances under which we met were difficult to say the least, but she was the type of person you hope your daughter grows up to be, and John and I welcomed her into our family with open arms and deep affection. Tragically, just 20 months after Bethany came along, she was gone, leaving an indelible print on all our lives.



Pictures do only partial justice in portraying the beautiful person Bethany was, because they can't convey her friendly, loving, cheerful nature, or the way the mood in a room brightened when she walked in; but pictures are what we have now, and a few letters and emails, to remember her. So far, what I end up doing every year as June rolls around is repeatedly watching the memorial movie we made for her funeral. It helps to see her smiling again.