Death..

Well, the last week has been a total and complete wash as far as accomplishing anything. I had big plans too. Spending time with friends, mailing Christmas cards, wrapping gifts, putting up the Christmas tree, making cookies, and all those other things that people do at Christmas time.

Last Saturday morning (Dec. 13) at 8:30am, my Mother called to inform me that my uncle had passed away. "WHAT? Was he sick? Heart problems?" No, he had been perfectly healthy. "WOW! What happened then?" He had been at a Christmas party for work the night before, came home and complained to his wife that the food wasn't sitting very well and that he wasn't feeling good and was having some heart burn and went to bed. The next morning him and his brother (my other uncle) were going to go deer hunting. My aunt wondered why he wasn't up yet so went upstairs to wake him up. He didn't wake up and he wasn't breathing. Horrible experience for her to find her husband dead! Great for him to die in his sleep. No pain! Just go to sleep and never wake up. After the fact, they are saying he did have a heart attack.

To say that the family has been devestated is to put it mildly. Keith was over 6 foot tall and weighed 185 pounds. He was 64 and very active. He hunted, fished, chopped his own wood and was an all around handy man, putting a roof on his barn just this summer. My Grandmother passed away last December and the brothers and sisters (my Mom and her siblings) had just gotten past all the firsts without her. And when I say just gotten past all the the firsts, I mean it. The anniversary of her death was just a few days before Keith's passing.

This has impacted my Mother in a profound way. She's not talking about it but I can see it in her face and hear it in her voice. She's hurting! She is now the oldest of the kids. This was one of those big in-your-face moments when you realize that life really is pretty short and you have to face your own immorality. It is more than a little intimidating to her. It is intimidating to me and my sisters as well as we realize that our parents aren't getting any younger and that death can come at any time. Please say a prayer for us if you can. We need it right now.