I did something yesterday I've never done before. I went to the cemetery where my parents are buried--alone. (They're buried in a small Lutheran Church cemetery on the prairie.) I sat on the tombstone in front of their graves and sort of "talked" to them. Dotsie, when your dad didn't come, you were probably feeling what I felt again Monday. They're both gone, and I still have things I want to talk with them about. I need their help on something, so I did just "talk" with them. It was a beautiful day on the prairie, and as I sat there, I listened to the grasses and leaves blowing in the wind and birds singing, and I thought of how many times I took the beauty of that life for granted as a kid. And how much we seem to always need our parents.