Another month...

Why is it that the days just disappear? Days and weeks and months, and before you know it, you are turning over a new calendar page. Sometimes it feels like advancing from age sixteen to age sixty takes just a minute. Life goes on, whether you are paying attention or not. Lately, we have all been paying attention here.

Within this last week, one of our dear friends and neighbors passed away. He had not been feeling well for months, going to doctor after doctor to describe symptoms and get opinions. Each doctor had a different theory, various medications, limitless advice. For the last month, J’s symptoms got worse... more doctors, more tests and scans... more medications and their side effects. One of the last scans given to him showed a cancerous tumor in his lung... it had already spread and was very aggressive... Stage 4 cancer. The man never smoked. But he was in the Army years ago, in Vietnam at the time Agent Orange was being used. 

This friend was very helpful to us when we moved out here to the hills. He was the first person we called in an emergency. Growing up as a country boy in Texas, he always knew what to do or who to call or how to fix the problem. He was my go-to guy when my husband was out of town and something went wrong in the house or on the property.  And he did the same for all of the neighbors. We are all lost, as is, first and foremost, his wife, his children, his grandchildren. If J could have made a pact with the universe to keep him here on this planet for his wife and his family, he would have done just that.

We are all so sad in this tiny community of homes. And life goes on.