The alarm goes off and I wake up in the same way I normally wake up…..very slowly and a bit unsteady on my feet.
It usually takes a few minutes for my face to catch up with the fact that I am moving around but then once I have left the bathroom and have groaned at myself in the mirror things start to improve.
Having negotiated the stairs and safely reached the ground floor without any sleepy mishaps I then let my self be taken over by the comfortingly familiar routine that has now been in place for some months:

1. Open front door and check mail and grab milk.
2. Walk through lounge to kitchen and look for coffee
3. Sit at table with coffee and message Liz to say "Good Morning"
4. Phone Chris to say "Good Morning" and check in
5. Message Karen and say "Good Morning"
6. Drink coffee and plan the day


So, this is how close we have all become over the last year. Obviously I am closer to Liz as she is my wife, but the communication with the others has become a daily routine.
The house seems to have more than just Liz, myself and the children in it.
Chris is here a lot, so are John, Charles and Lindsay, and you know even though Karen is in Arizona, if she was here I don't think the cat would even see her as a new person as she is involved in our conversations on a daily basis.
We have all become great friends, not just fair-weather friends either, but real friends. This last week was important and I have waited with this blog post just to gain perspective. It has been a time of great change recently and it was the anniversary of James Elmer's passing on Wednesday. I was very happy to hear that Karen and family went on holiday over this period. She is keeping in touch and we feel like we are kind of with them while they are away. It's great how we sit here in London and can talk about the ball game and the snoopy museum.
The family are having a great time and we here have had some fantastic news that we have shared with Karen, and will be sharing with the rest of you very soon. It feels so good to have all this great feeling that seems to have come together on Wednesday. It's like James is smiling down on us, and even if it does not last it was a great day with thoughts of friendship, excitement and goodwill flying back and forth across the Atlantic.
Looking back on the day it just felt like James had a good look at how we have helped each other, got through this tough year and how we have managed to grow closer as friends, and found us smiling and loving and remembering. He was not my dad, but I can see his face as I write this, and I can, through Karen's stories and tales, get a sense of the man for whom we wrote a song, who reminds me of my own dad, and who has affected more lives than he ever knew.