I feel sick.

[misscrystal]

I've just lost another friend. The third this year.

First was Roger, who was struck in the head by a lightning bolt. He was kept alive on a machine for 6 months before his family let him go.

Then Matthew. When his brother told me he was gone I hung up on him. I couldn't bear to hear about how it happened. I thought I was having a nervous breakdown for weeks.

Now Randy. I can't get my head around it. He was a year younger than me and he died in his sleep. Heart condition. 27.

My friends are few and far between, and I've lost three in a matter of months. I'm doing everything I can to make Christmas a special holiday for my children despite my own problems, but I feel so guilty because of the pain that I know their wives and children must be going through and knowing that there's nothing I can do for them.

I keep stumbling over it in my mind.

'Where's my other shoe?'

Randy's dead.

'More Potatoes?'

Matthew's gone.

'Kids, Bedtime!'

Poor Roger.

I've hardly got a warm friend left anymore. It turns my stomach.

I don't really expect much response to this. I just hoped that maybe if I got the words out there I might get a decent night's sleep. After a week, god knows I need one.

[s.xkitten]

ooh, sweetie, i'm so sorry....i know what its like to lose a friend, but to lose three is unimaginable...you have my sympathy

[Backglass]

Wow...thats just frickin' awful. I'm truly sorry.

Know this...you have many more friends than you think you do.

And there IS something you can do for those people. Be there for them...call them up, or go visit and just listen. Dont try to explain or give words of wisdom, just let them vent and get it out. They need someone to be a sounding board...as do you.

Hang in there...