-
A Sad, Happy Birthday to My Friend
Today, September 17, is my friend Kay’s 56th birthday. More accurately, I guess I should say that it would have been her birthday. The last time I saw Kay was over the Labor Day weekend, a few weeks before her 46th birthday. That was when she decided to defy what her doctors were telling her, and prove them wrong. Ten years earlier, Kay had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Several years and multiple surgeries, celebrations, and disappointments later, her doctors spoke those fated words that no one in the middle of a battle wants to hear. He told her they had done everything and there was nothing more they could…
-
Birthdays and Memories. Life Moves Too Fast
After looking at the clock twice, and wondering where the time had gone this morning, I decided I had just enough time to squeeze in an email I’d been meaning to send all weekend regarding a project I’m about to start working on. It wasn’t going to be a short one, so I grabbed my laptop instead of using my phone, and stared at the screen for a moment, trying to pull my thoughts together. Within seconds of sitting, any thoughts towards completing the email were gone. Instead, my mind was taken away by the iCal prompt that popped on my screen. As I stared at the two day advance…
-
When You’re Shocked By Your Sadness
Weeks before the end of school, and a student gets a phone call. His father has passed away. He wasn’t close to his father. He didn’t grow up with him around, and had only recently reconnected with him as an adult. “So why have I been crying so much?” he asked, as he sat in my office. “It’s not like we were close. I just didn’t expect to feel this way.” I listened as he talked. His countenance had completely changed since I last saw him in class three weeks earlier. It was obvious he wasn’t just hurting; he was lost. He even admitted he didn’t know whether he was…
-
Another Sunday Morning It Was Not
It was another hectic Sunday morning! My life had been on hectic overdrive for the last two years, and getting ready for church this Sunday morning was no different. I’d just sold my house earlier that month and moved back to the side of town that took me more miles away from church, but put me at least at the halfway point to being closer to my work. I’d not yet adjusted my “gotta get out of the house earlier” timing down; having gone from being less than five miles from church, to now being over 15 miles away. I was also still dragging; a little on edge; physically exhausted…
