Good (uuuugggggh) Morning

I'm feeling kind of beat up today.  Emotionally & physically.  Back in college, I was diagnosed with chondromalacia of the patella tendons (those are the tendons that run vertically, right underneath your kneecap), and lordy, have they been acting up lately!  There never seems to be any rhyme or reason to it - weather, stress, I dunno.  Anyway, whine, whine.

Yesterday was the funeral for a young, very well known man in our community.  He was 29 years old but didn't look a day over 17.  He'd fought Addison's disease his whole life, and complications from it, in conjunction with the flu, got him.  We can hope he never felt a thing, though:  his dad found him unconscious in his apartment, and he was already in a coma that he never awoke from when they arrived at the hospital.  Severe brain swelling caused massive damage that was irreversible, and they took him off life support a week ago yesterday.  He was an organ donor, and the hospital was able to find SIX (yes, SIX) families / donors to receive his healthy organs.  His family can take some small comfort in knowing that he will live on in the history of those families for generations to come.

The departed being the son of the much-loved owners of the local coffee shop, the church was jam-packed, and folding chairs were brought out to fill the aisles.  As funerals go, it was a lovely one . . . but, of course, so, so sad.  My Girl and I sat together, sniffling and wiping away tears the whole time.

The only other "up" side to the whole situation, besides the organ donations, is that the entire community really rallied around these folks, and I know they've wanted for nothing physical, be it meals or menial tasks done.  There was a meal sign-up sheet at the coffee shop, and My Girl took one of those slots.  I was trying to think of something *I* could do to help out and came up with thank you cards.  I know they have been inundated with well wishes, and I remember slogging through the thank yous following the ex's mom's funeral.  So, I'm in the final stages of making up 50 of them for the family, complete with return address and stamps on the envelopes.  All they'll have to do is write their personal note and seal the envelope.

Happily, I was able to end yesterday on a good note:  friends were up to their cabin from the Cities (last week's 40th birthday girl and her husband).  They are aunt and uncle to The Peanut, and so I drove out to the Peanut's house last night after work, and we all had a lovely evening together.  The Peanut's mama is just 12 days away from her projected due date with Little Brother, and so the aunt and uncle did all the food preparation, and it was DELISH!  There were homemade jalapeno poppers (sans the breading since they were) grilled outside for appetizers; a wonderful, fresh spinach salad with bleu cheese, dried cherries, walnuts, and green apple; and made-to-order Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches (chicken for yours truly since I don't eat steak) finished off on the grill, too!  The hubby (uncle) made everything but the salad, and even tho I've known him my whole life, I didn't know he could cook so well!  It was fantastic, and he can make that meal ANY time I'm around, thank you very much!  :)

Auntie and The Peanut's mama and I were put in "time out" frequently during the evening by the 3 1/2 year old Peanut (fortunately, we didn't have to leave our chairs).  There was no good reason for it, so I stuck my tongue out at The Peanut.  When she gave me the expected, "Hey!  That's naughty!" look, I said, "Well, if I'm gonna be in "time out" then I should deserve it!" ;p


After the lovely evening, I headed back into town (they're on the other side of it) and to my office.  Spent about 15 minutes closing up there, and headed for home just after 11:00.

Going back to the evening with friends, The Peanut's mama had called me earlier in the day to express concern over me making it in their long driveway (with the Yaris) due to the road conditions.  She wanted me to park out on the main road and call for a ride in (in one of the trucks).  I assured her that it couldn't be worse than my road and, to quell her protests, promised to stop if I got to a spot that looked risky . . . instead of attempting it and potentially getting stuck.  Being a bit more shaded than my road, their driveway did have a little more slushy snow to slog through, but I rolled right up to their house as I anticipated.  She was surprised that the little car could do it, and I said, with a smile, "Well, we [the car & I] do 4 1/2 miles of that twice a day!"

And, with that, I'll sign off for now.  It's snowing out, and we're supposed to be having a storm with 8-11" of white stuff accumulating.  I HOPE that doesn't happen, but, if it does . . . c'est la vie!  That's life!