Glad to be among the living

On April 6th, my Aunt Rhoda passed away. Rhoda was married to my father's brother Dell ( who passed away in 1974). I honestly don't know if I ever met Dell- I will have to ask my father that one. I do remember taking a trip to Maine to see that family when I was very young- maybe 3 years old- I asked my mother about it today, but she couldn't recall if Dell was alive or if he had passed away when we made the trip. All I remember about it was there was a BIG hill in the road and Aunt Rhoda and her sister taking us to a ceramic shop. I don't have a lot of early memories of my childhood- but every now and then something triggers a memory like this one. I wouldn't say I was close to Rhoda, in fact, I honestly barely knew her, but always grew up knowing she was my Aunt, even though I was only 2 or 3 when Uncle Dell died (depending on just when he dies in the year). Whenever I was around Rhoda, she always seemed like a very nice woman and my parents always spoke highly of her and was always considered part of the family.


Of course, I've already mentioned Kelly's little boy Ethan passed away as well. My hear breaks still for that family, although I'm sure glad little Ethan is not in pain anymore.

Today, heard Mr. Larry Andrews passed away. He started teaching at my high school when I was in 8th or 9th grade- can't recall just which one -but I had him for 9th grade social and he was a 'new' teacher. That was back in 85-86. He was still teaching at the school until earlier this year. The brief obit stated he was 63, so he must have been about 35 when he started teaching at school. He was a man of very dry humor in my book, and honestly reminded me of Hitler with his mustache the way it was. I never overly liked him, but didn't dislike him either. He has meant a lot to many kids over the course of his career though and coordinated many over seas trips for the kids from school as well.

Then of course we can't forget John Forsythe and Dixie Carter passed away last week.

It always seems to happen all at once doesn't it- you can go months without anyone passing away that you know or have heard f and then it seems to all hit at once.

I for one am so thankful to be among the living, and for the health of my parents. I am blessed to have both of my parents living still and I get to enjoy their company, humor, wisdom, laughter, and everything else. Although I don't visit their house everyday, living across the driveway has it's advantages as we get to exchange waves, call the other and say - hey there is a deer across the road in the field, or has the mailman come yet - all things I cherish- it's the littlest things in life that sometimes mean the most.

Life is short, and each day I realize that more and more.