h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Tomorrow would be my mom and stepdad's 36th anniversary, except for the fact that we lost Mom to brain cancer shortly after her 52nd birthday in 2000. (We lost her April 19. Yes, I already had issues with the date when we lost pheloxi.) Then Daddy Bob succumbed (final killer, pneumonia, though he had diabetes that had resulted in an amputation very shortly after we lost Mom, and had gone a few bouts with respiratory MRSA) about 5 years later. He'd been born 19 years before Mom, so everyone assumed that, some day, Mom would be a widow, instead of Daddy Bob being a widower. I even remember coming on here and writing a journal near what would've been their silver anniversary, and being upset that I wouldn't be able to do anything for them, when I actually would've been able to financially. I... probably should've done something for Daddy Bob that year, since, in retrospect, I'm sure it hit him harder than it did me--after all, it was *their* milestone, not mine. Heck, I was exactly 1 month shy of being 3--it's not like I can remember Mom *not* being married to Daddy Bob (well, my first memory dates to the day before their wedding, but how much is my own memory and how much is from hearing the story so many times is debatable).

For having my parents be divorced, when it wasn't as common as it is now, I was pretty lucky. My parents divorced when I was young enough to not remember them being married, and remarried when I was fairly young, as well (all I remember of Dad and W's wedding is that we 3 girls (W's daughters and myself) all wore the same dress, it was at my Grandpa and Grandma Hopper's place in Stayton (or wherever it was they were before getting the cranberry bogs in Bandon), and it rained). My parents got along with each other, and with the other's new spouse. My step-parents (as far as I know) got along with each other, as well. (I know there was some kerfuffle when I changed from living with Mom to living with Dad as I was entering high school, so that I could get braces (14mm overbite--orthodontia was necessary!) but that pretty much stayed behind the scenes.) My then-stepsisters and I got along very well, and we were pretty close in age--I'm in the middle, the older is exactly 2 years and 6 days older than I, and the younger is 1 year, 9 months and something younger. We did lose contact shortly after Dad and W got divorced, but that's mostly due to the fact that I tend to be pretty much out-of-sight-out-of-mind-and-regret-when-it's-too-late, but, after I got dragged onto Facebook, I found them again, and have enjoyed getting caught up (and trying to get them over here--W, I know folks older than you on here--paulh was born the same year Mom and Dad were, and Alsoran is in her mid80s! Though I've not seen her for quite some time now...).