It's exactly a year since my mother died. (By a sinister coincidence, I also find myself exactly one year nearer my own death - what are the chances?)
I don't really have anything to add to that, but I'll share this picture that my brother just put on Facebook, of our family in 1963: my mother, my father, my brother, me and our dog, Topsy. I think it's fair to describe these as simpler days, at least from my point of view.