I am very used to being in pain; physical, emotional, whatever it was, I can deal with it. But when I know people I love and care about are in pain, it hurts me more than any of my own pain ever could. Their pain becomes my pain. I just recently lost someone who I had become very close to in the past year. He passed away the day before Christmas. I miss him...more than I can say. And it really hurt me when i realized how much he had been suffering, and how much he hid it to protect the people he cares about. At the funeral I found myself sobbing, and I felt awful. There were so many people here that knew him better than I did. And I know it hurt them more than it hurt me. But I miss him. And it still hurts...