"Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it. I am sure that we will never forget Tiny Tiny or this first parting that was among us." So says Bob Cratchit to his family during A Muppets Christmas Carol

This season especially I am frought with tears at almost every Christmas song and at least once during each movie. I have had this year, a very heart breaking death in our family, additionally a friend has lost her dear brother and another friend has lost her beloved father.

I have tried at various opportunities to attend funerals and wakes of people whom I knew or their spouses etc.. Thinking each time how lucky I was to be distant from the death. Hoping perhaps that my attendance would somehow prepare me for the time I would attend a personal one. My dear grandmother passed away over 15 years ago; I was unable to attend the funeral, and she had been very ill in a nursing home for over 8 years. I still think of her several times a week, but the sadness of her passing was so different.. distant. Mimi's death has hit me like a ton of bricks. I know she was 81 and failing, but the reality of someone who was so important to me, just not be here anymore is what I am having trouble dealing with.

I understand all too well that many readers are able to say...Remember how lucky you really are to be 45 before this awakening happens. Which I truly understand; but does it make it easier?? I also know that many people lose loved ones who were closer to them than Mimi was to me. Which brings me to Harry Potter.

In the series of Harry Potter, Harry is able to see some animals that are only visible to people who have seen death happen (there is a continuity error here in the story but we won't be dealing with that here). I thought that was a good part to the story, that those who have lost members close to them are able to see things differently, in both a visual and figurative format.

That is why for me this Thanksgiving is different. Mimi is not here with me on earth, and because of that I have changed. I am tempted to treat each meeting and parting as if I may never see my friend again. Which can quickly get melodramatic. So I try to make sure that my friends and family know how much I love them and how much they mean to me. That is after all, one of the main points of our holiday.