Soon she was gone. Elizabeth felt a deep and gaping hole in her heart and
in her life. She could actually feel a physical aching in her chest. She felt she
would never be completely whole again. Elizabeth cried for months.
Elizabeth missed the frequent phone calls with her mother. She tried
calling her father more often, but he remained withdrawn and had very little to
talk about. He would be off the phone within a minute or two. He was not
capable of nurturing or comforting her. He also was grieving, and his grief
isolated him even more. Her brother in California, with his wife and two young
children, was also devastated by his mother's death, but he was busy with his
family and career.