[SmootSmack]

Haven't lost my parents but I've lost my share of friends and family. I think the three that hit me most were and still affect me were my grandmother, my best friend's sister (who was like a big sister to me-she died of cancer when she wasn't even 30 years old, to see her waste away was really sad), and my college roommate.

My other grandparents all died when I was very young so I never really knew them but what might have been arguably worse was my grandmother not knowing who I was. I was 20 when she passed away and for the last 11 years of her life she had Alzheimer's and had no idea who I was. That was pretty painful.

And then when my college roommate was shot and killed a couple of years ago that really hurt. I was planning to see him very soon and had vowed that we needed to do a better job of keeping in touch. I still think about him a lot. Death does suck