Monday, Monday

Last week was not an especially good one. It seemed like the bad news just kept coming and coming, on an auto-repeat loop.

First, to kick the week off, my uncle passed away. Indeed, as his wife and adult children will tell you, he is restored now, perfected even, after years of battling an unforgiving disease (Alzheimer's disease). Still, it was tough, and tougher still to look into the eyes of his wife of 60 years and see such grief.

The funeral consisted of a beautiful eulogy, filled with reminisces of better days, and continued with a "life celebration" theme. As an extended family member or friend, bias is tempting. However, from my seat at the funeral, I could see the funeral director through the doorway, where he was seated on a sofa, in the event that assistance was needed. My uncle was humble, a quiet character, but definitely a prankster who loved to laugh. Therefore, many of the stories were comical. From my vantage point, I could see that the director was smiling most of the time, and even chuckled from time to time whenever the stories reached their punchline. Seeing an objective party respond to the life history further reinforced for me and those of us inside the parlor what I already knew: we lost a good one last week. I would consider myself lucky to be eulogized in that way.

The next wave of news brought my dad's diagnosis of prostate cancer, for which he will have an evaluation this Thursday. So, there's that.

Finally, there was more news concerning lovely Sarah.

Too much. Too much to comprehend.

At one point, when we were making the hour drive to my uncle's funeral, our windshield was cracked badly by a dump truck who was dangerously over capacity and losing a good bit of the boulders (ok... rocks, but they were large ones) he was carrying. On the one hand, I was surprised that our windshield now had a huge crack from top to bottom, but it would have seemed fitting if the windshield had completely shattered and pelted the dash. It was that kind of week.

This week will be better. I am resolving to pray for the above issues. I am praying for comfort and relief for my uncle's family. For my dad, I am praying that his treatment options are straightforward, and that the folks providing treatment are precise and thorough. For Sarah and her family, prayers continue, many of which are led by Gracie.

At each meal, you see, Gracie and Lauren say the blessing (e.g., "God is great... God is good..."). Following the "a-men" on that prayer, Gracie, very seriously, says, "Let's say a prayer for Sarah," and then she starts off with a prayer for Sarah ("God take care of Sarah..."). Sometimes her prayer is lengthy, and she will start naming off all of our family members by name. Eventually, Lauren will cut her off by lifting her head and declaring AMEN!!!