Writing a letter to those we miss

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I guess I started a series on loss, and depression, and sadness, without even intending. Something else you can do is write a letter, even if the person you are writing to is gone. Here is my letter to my grandpa-- Dear Grandpa, It's been along time since I was able to hug you, since you left this earth, more than a decade ago. Can you believe that? It has been more than ten years since I got one of the worst calls of my life. I brag about being your favorite. I know you loved all of us, but secretly, being the oldest, I think I maybe was. I can't taste anything malted without a tear forming in my eyes, because they will always remind me of you, of trips to the ice cream store and me sneaking bites of your vanilla malt. I even get one now and then in your memory. I can't see a western without thinking of you, and reading Louie L'amour now makes me cry... I miss you so much. Really we all do. But I only can know how I feel for sure. The months after losing you have holes in them. I have lost my first real love, and my favorite uncle since then, and neither one hurt as much as your loss did. I think there are actually very few even now who's loss would pick up my soul and break it like losing you did. You should still be here. You should be making jokes and wearing ugly ties, clashing with pride in your dress. I often wondered if you were color blind or just loved horrible color combinations, or did it just to get under grandma's skin. We should be going camping together, or playing cards. We should be joking and living... And instead I'm here. And you are not. People say time heals all wounds. I don't think that's really true. I think that time eases the grip of the wound, the pain of it. Maybe time heals some wounds, granted they scar, but they heal. I don't think all wounds though. Some wounds never do heal. You just learn to work around them, and sometimes even forget about them for a time, until a sound, a smell, a stray though, brings you right back around to it. I love you grandpa. I always will.