January 29th 2016 marked 1 year without Tim. 

Tim's mom Arlis and I visited his site with his sister and brother-in-law, Dawn & Ed.   Mom planned the route: stop at the Dollar Store first.  For a split second I thought what, why, huh, dollar store flowers, really?  This just shows how little I know about losing someone and how much more practical someone who has can be.  Tim's dad, Bill, is buried in the same cemetery just fifty or so yards away in the military honors section (WWII vet, lost his natural teeth to a grenade at Omaha, was patched up on the sand and fought on to Germany).  Tim and I attended that service together in 2007, me with him, his mom holding up stoically even through the presentation of the flag.  She has visited his grave many, many times since then, keeping it neat and tidy, replacing flowers with a new bunch after the fierce wind and weather of the high desert have faded and tattered them.