11/25-12/3/09

It's been a great week and I am wondering 'which day it IS ' after all the fun activities we've had. Priceless times shared that we will all remember and cherish. Now 'back to life' as we each know it. Everyone has traveled safely and soundly. Love you. xos

November 18, 1939

How to commemorate a life, 70 years after it began? I have been thinking that the answer is to celebrate the anniversary of the day you were born, a day we are all very happy for, much the way we'd celebrate it if you were still alive, but with the edges of sadness and loneliness for you that now mingle with the rest. We shared photos and songs and memories and you seemed to respond: through radio stations playing your favorite tunes, Natalie telling Michelle about your birthday party in heaven, the deer Maggie called Mom out to see or the one (perhaps the same) who came to see her at the church, the photo of our family that always shifts a bit in the frame of my bedroom mirror whenever something momentous is happening, falling to the floor, or the joke James told tonight...

It's still your birthday today, but without your presence, and all of these things, whether they are a comfort of the mind or spirit or heaven, helped us to celebrate you today. Your life has become magic, after only 70 years. (atp)

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. xos

November 18, 1939-November 18, 2009

This year would've been your seventieth birthday. We will wish you a Happy Birthday in our hearts and minds and prayers. You will be toasted and your life will be celebrated with music of course. Our Love and xos As Always

37t h. Remembrance

I got a beautiful bouquet of scarlet red roses from kids yesterday as a remembrance of #37. It was a wonderful surprise. Thanks again. :-)

The Great Outdoors

Dad, you would have been amazed throughout this trip. You and Mom had both told me about your travels through the southwest and I can imagine your face at the photos I took on my own trip this past month. I imagined you sharing the views with me throughout the desert and the mountains and the fields and the forests. We even spotted a moose in the Rocky Mountains! Knowing how much you would have enjoyed this adventure helped me to enjoy it even more. You help me to smile bigger, even when I'm missing your big smile. - atp

Great Uncle x 3

I've found out recently that you and I are to become Great Uncle and Great Aunt times 3 ( 2 + 1) later this year(2) and early next year(1) and I am very pleased, as I know you would be. So Congratulations to all Grandparents, again! xos tiab Very Happy Great Aunt :-)

Father's Day

Hi Daddy,
I went to church this morning to honor you on Father's Day and to feel a little closer to you. Being there brings some peace when the day is not the same without you. Before the mass started, I was thinking of you and recalled our sushi lunch in Boston where we both drank some hot sake - pure bliss for both of us. I smiled at the memory of you laughing to yourself as you caught your balance as the train took off on our way back to the apartment. I loved having you to myself as a child and I loved my time with you as an adult. My memories always make my heart smile.

A friend of mine, who is a new father, remarked to me today that he thinks he is starting to understand the pride a dad has in his perfect daughter. Then he went on to say that you - must have been so proud of me because you did a beautiful job ! :)
I hope you were and I hope you are as you look upon the three of us now.
You and mom instilled integrity and character in us that it seems too much of the world is lacking.

I know you would often have liked to see me take different paths in my life, however you taught us to be strong and independent ;)Sometimes, one can only learn from first hand experience. I am proud to have had such a wonderful father who taught me what truly matters in the world. Thank you.
Love you and miss you every day.
Michelle

A Spectacular Day Full of New Memories & Some Old Ones

Today was a spectacularly pleasant day of good weather and shared time as we took part in making a new memory while sharing some old ones simultaneously. It's a combination which will continue to be bittersweet. It's been a truly pleasant and enjoyable day from start to finish, with an annual road race in the middle and it has been great. Everyone is now home again safe and sound and we are blessed indeed to have had this experience and to have had this time to savor which we look forward to sharing once again next year. :-) xos

James Michael Pelletier

June 11, 2009 is a special day as our son was born on June 11, 1979 and so became someone to carry on his Dad's surname for our branch of the family tree. His Dad was pleased and more than a little relieved, being 39 years old already. What a handsome, happy boy he was and still is, smiling the same day he was born. He weighed 9 pounds and 2 ounces and was healthy and strong being born on a Monday at 7:25 PM. Soon his Dad brought his two sisters to meet him and visit us and they excitedly welcomed him too and we all shared the joy of the day we completed our little family. I can picture it in my mind's eye and feel it in my heart as if it were happening today. We were then and still are so grateful to have such a beautiful family. Happy Birthday to you! xos

Memorial Day 2009

Yesterday's parade in town was short and sweet. After I attended it and before attending the All Wars Memorial Ceremony I double-checked that a new flag had, indeed, been placed at the cemetery, along with a single scarlet carnation on each veteran's grave, kindly done, despite the economy of current times, by Troop 29 of the Bantam Boy Scouts.I also lit a candle for you, having found the church doors unlocked, much to my surpise in these times. Another tradition took place later when there was the usual free 'hot dogs and soda' at the Bantam Borough Hall for parade marchers and all who wished to join them there, and me too. Today there is a red, white and blue floral bouquet in a holder for it too. I put the aforementioned scarlet carnation in the middle of it. Judy came with me today and she had brought the same exact kind of bouquet I was going to get locally today, when I hoped to find a better selection than yesterday's. I hope you and your friends and relatives from Army/military service are at peace, as well as any of mine. I know you all still keep watch for our sakes. xos

Wonderful

I know you should have known it very well, but I find myself wondering if you ever really did know how wonderful our family was and still is and/or how much we all really loved each other and still do. I know we all treasure it and it's sweet memories while we make new ones. I hope you are at peace and that we can come to find our peace with this. It doesn't seem like a year and it doesn't seem to be really possible still. We have tried our best each in our own way to navigate thru this past year and thru this First Anniversary.

Mother's Day 2009

Having had a very nice Mother's Day and having had conversations with all three of my 'kids,' as with my grandaughter today, in celebration of the same, I wanted to note the obvious (who me?) as we are all on the same page in our memories and thoughts. I am thankful for the fulfillment of hopes and dreams of long ago and as such then for our wonderfully kind and caring (as well as) beautiful family . We are blessed indeed. xos tiab :-) Love, Mommy/Sweet Grandma

62

Hi, 62 today officially. Luckily for me, a lot of people have seen to it that it was a very wonderful occasion. :-) xos tiab

Train ride with you

I was sitting on the train and across from me sat a grandfather and his granddaughter, who was about 18 months old. She sat in a simple stroller like the ones we rode in when we were small. He was older than you were, probably in his mid-70s. He had one hand on the stroller and one hand on his knee. The girl kept looking up at him, not like she was worried or distressed, but with the enjoyment our faces make upon looking at something or someone we love. He smiled at her with crystal blue eyes. One of the several times she turned around in her seat, she reached up and put her tiny hand on his seemingly giant hands, hands like yours, working hands, strong hands, big hands. She left her hand on his and their fingers seemed to stitch together in the kind of seam two humans can make when they touch like parts, their differences highlighted, their union a new creation. I saw this happen with you and Natalie and I have photos of it happening with you and me or Michelle or James. I miss seeing your eyes and your hands and your love, Dad. Every day, I miss you. -aimee

April 2009

Thoughts of how much everyone is missing him this month, as they have been and will always. Keep him in your prayers too. xos

Roy E. O'Pelletier

I miss you today, Roy E. O'Pelletier, as we all do. Happy Saint Patrick's Day. Love, Mrs. Jeanne Clarke Russell O'Pelletier and all the other O'Pelletiers xos tiab

Michelle Bernadette Pelletier

On this day we became parents for the first time, having a beautiful baby girl arrive at 6:59 PM, EST. She was very healthy and we were very relieved about that and glad to see/meet her finally and very emotional. When Grandpa Russell came to see us he said she looked just like me. Memories, sweet memories. Lucky us. xos Love, Mommy :-)

Pelletier Legends

There are tons of us and Dad would have loved to see that:


http://www.dynastree.com/maps/detail/pelletier.html

Aimee Teresa Pelletier

Good morning! On this snowy February 3rd. morning I am reminiscing about a certain beautiful, healthy baby girl that was born at 7:04 PM on this day. It snowed while we were in the local hospital and it was a Thursday. We brought her home to her beautiful sister, Michelle Bernadette, age 23 months, on Sunday, February 6th. A beautiful baby brother, James Michael, was added 28 months later. And so our three special editions were created, our best ever accomplishment and our lives were so blessed and we loved each other so much, as we do still. Sometimes life is great. We all miss their Daddy especially today. xos tiab Love, Mommy

Ladybug

Last night I learned that yesterday, on a beach full of people in Oregon, a little girl came up to my grandaughter, one of many there then, and wanted to show her a ladybug that had been found. They shared the wonder of it and of it's unique existence there. Indeed it was. It gave wonder and happiness and comfort to them and served as a sign of caring to them both. I felt the need to relate this to those for whom it has a special meaning. The greatest power on this earth, after all, IS love. xos tiab :-)

Beautiful Moonlight on The Fresh Snow

Tonight is the brightest Full Moon of 2009, according to the experts. It's glowing on the new layer of freshly fallen snow here. Both of these remind me of the beauty of nature, of winter and of how I miss a certain native of Maine. xos

Here it comes, ready or not, 2009!

Well folks, here it comes, 2009. We are all wondering what it'll bring with it. Hopefully, it will be a year that means a solution to some of our country's current problems. Hopefully, it will be a year of good health and of happiness and good days for us all. It will be a year unlike any other too. Although some thoughts, feelings remain raw, remember we have had experiences which have shown us he is still with us, certainly. And finally, hopefully, the photos, songs, sayings, stories and other memories will all bring with them some comfort, so that we can come to the realization that though different, this new, first year will keep love alive, as always.Take care.