Too much

This has been a very hard week. A young man we knew, a brilliant scholar and gentle person who had suffered from depression for quite some time, took his life. One of C's classmates tragically lost her father from a fall on Tuesday night. A friend's brother, non-smoking and 54, and with three small children, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and has been brought home to die. Another friend's 71-year-old aunt was given a couple of weeks, at most, after being diagnosed Monday with an aggressive form of brain cancer.

It would have been my father and mother's 49th anniversary this week and his 95th birthday yesterday. He's been gone 15 years from prostate cancer and my sister has been gone 10 years from lung cancer. She didn't smoke, either.

The other deaths bring up these, more personal, losses.

I awoke at 2:00 a.m. with a massive panic attack. I haven't had one in years, and it took me by surprise. Happily, the training I received to rid myself of these attacks kicked in, and I was back to sleep within an hour.

I guess I don't really have anything else profound to say, but I'm not clear how much I'll be around over the next few days and wanted to explain my recent absence.

On the positive side, our weather is glorious and the trees are turning and C is thriving and my friend is coming for a visit next week. So in the midst of a lot of death, life continues.

Give all of your loved ones extra hugs and kisses.