Mortality

First, let me thank all of you, in the collective sense, for the notes and emails I have received since my mother's death Jan. 4. Watching my father read all of the kind comments really amplified how I think people want to approach life and death. His comments to many of the 200-plus folks who came through the funeral home that night is he treated each day he had with my mom as a blessing. Some of you were among those who stopped by, a bittersweet way to say hello after a long time apart.

Both of my parents dealt with the situation with a lot of dignity. My mom knew her death was coming, but it didn't stop her from enjoying the holidays and spending time with friends and family. My dad approached the whole thing from a place of serenity and calmness. All five of his siblings came, a testament to how my mom enjoyed being around such a large family.

This leads me to another huge family, our class. We have had some folks pass away, a lot more than I think any of us who don't live in Marion are aware. As Jennie and some of the rest of us started going through the list, I was shocked and saddened to see how many had passed or were seriously ill.

Names like Lisa Kegley, Chuck Copeland or Kevin Downing and others left our class rolls way too soon.

Others are very sick like Dean Stiltner who recently entered a nursing home as he has been fighting a serious spinal cord injury. You can catch up with Dean's situation at a Website his and Becky's family has set up at http://www.dean-update.us.

In this same vein, Becky sent me a note today with a link
to Eric Foos' obituary. Eric, who was the year behind ours, apparently passed Saturday.

Think the next time as you think how you don't want to get out of bed (me this morning), want a meeting to end sooner rather than later (me this morning) or get held up t work (me this afternoon) and say a silent thank you that you're still here with us.

Back to town again... not for a purpose I really wanted:<

You'll probably see in the paper on Sunday that my mother passed away Friday. She was 59 and had a long run with cancer the last 15 months or so.

I'll be making my way to Marion on Sunday and will be in town all week. We'll have viewing Tuesday night at Gunders from 4 to 8.