It’s truly heartbreaking to read your stories about the death of cherished loved ones, the pain n is so acute that I feel it inside of me. I’ve grown up my whole life feeling a strong sense of loss because I didn’t have any relatives, you see most of them were killed in WW11, innocent men, women and children taken from their homes and murdered like unwanted trash. I had some old photos from my mother and when she was alive we would sit together and she shared stories about them, it helped me to get a sense of who they were, in some way it helped to give them life, in my dreams I would see them and share my thoughts with them. As I grew up I struggled a lot with anger and resentment and it was slowly eating up my life and robbing me of feeling happiness. I watched my parents make a good life for me and themselves, good friends to share with and taking all that life has to offer. Sometimes I didn’t understand how they were able to do this but when I explained to them how I was feeling it was it was said to me that for those of us who survived the holocaust have an obligation to live life to the fullest because we are the ones who were left behind to carry on for ourselves and also for those who didn’t have the opportunity to do so. So it seems that in doing so we are paying tribute to our loved ones because they want this for us. On a final note I truly believe that they are never far away from us and that they are enjoying life with us. I realize that my story is about loss of loved ones in a different context but it’s loss all the same. I do know that time is the healer of all things and having faith will give you the peace and strength to carry on, trust in God and the answers will come to you, amen.