My father and his brothers were in WWII. His brother Fred was left behind, buried at the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands. That was 19 years before I was born.

Closer to my time, my home, my heart, my sister passed in 1998, then my Dad in 2004 and my Mom in 2008… all in early November.

Thus this month, always, I simmer above a rippling pool of grief. It laps at the fringes of my heart, keeping the sting of tears ready at a moments remembrance…