My half-brother was killed in a car accident in 1996, at the time I was only 7 and I had only ever seen him once because he lived all the way up in Nottingham, and there was a huge age gap, he was 16 when I was born! so there wasnt a strong bond if you know what I mean, but it certainly affected my mum a lot and it took her a good year for her to grieve properly. Even now there are 'no-go' areas where conversation rarely wanders, which often end in rows. The thing that I learnt from it all is that time is a great healer.
What BB Fernzy said was right, sport and work take your mind off the matter, you just have to get on with your life really. Things like holidays help a lot too.