But maybe not in the same way you felt it.

I was raised Catholic. (VERY Catholic. Very IRISH CATHOLIC (TM).) We had more photos of the Pope on our walls than we did family photos. And we had even more of the Kennedy's. So ... I was raised with a healthy dose of fear of the Church, some fear of the Pope, but the Kennedy's? They were our patron saints. Our royalty.

Even though I wasn't even a zygote in my mother's uterus at the time, nor a twinkle in her eye, I can still tell you where my grandmother was when she a) voted for "the first 'true' President" (JFK) and, b) where she was when he was assassinated. (Oddly enough, Texas. In a hospital. As an ER RN. Close to Dallas.)

The Church and I have gone our separate ways, and our separation was amicable, I still have this odd love for the Kennedy's, and the Church. Something about the high ritual of it all. Creating idols where there should be none ...

When Eunice died the other week? I was sad. But tonight, when Edward ("Teddy") passed, I FELT it. I'm not quite sure how to frame it, but here it goes:

The Pope? He was ... well ...
... was up there. Next to "our God".
But never ... just quite ...

Kennedy. John. Ted.
And then? Bobby - the second.
All three? Catholic.

They were the closest.
The closest to ... royalty.
Sometimes? More than God.

It was blasphemy.
*sigh* ... Cognitive dissonance.
Gotta love Catholics.(?)

That? That was my life.
But oddly? It's what we live(d).
Church. Pope. Kennedy.

We recovering ...
Recovering Catholics ...
We will still miss you.

Goodbye, "our" Teddy.
With you, so goes an era.
I am still searching.

(I think we all are.)