TOO MUCH DEATH TODAY

As it turns out, the 20th of May is the first anniversary of my cousin Ned's death (and really sadly, he died on his wedding anniversary.) I miss him a lot. It isn't like we spent a lot of time together once we had grown up--but in the last few years we talked to each other more. We talked on the phone and texted each other quite a bit. Whenever I went home, we spent time together. We loved my Grandparents falls together. We could talk about anything. We understood each other in so many ways. I miss you Ned. I really do.

My husband had a work conference call this morning before he headed out. When he hung up he came up and told me that one of his previous bosses had died over the weekend. In fact, it was the man who hired him, a really nice man we liked a lot. He'd gone camping with his family and they'd gone river rafting and had come off the river. He decided to go for a walk and didn't come back. When he didn't come back they went looking for him and found him dead on the trail~most likely of a heart attack. I've felt sad for his family all day.

It's not so much death itself that makes me sad. I know where people go when they die. I know they are in a better place. It is more the sadness of those left behind, the emptiness I know they feel--and sometimes--the shock of it all. I know with Ned--we just weren't expecting it. He was doing better. His surgery had gone well. He was starting to recover. It was just a jolt out of the blue.

Then, the rest of today has been so tragic in Oklahoma especially. I have friends there. My friends are in a city near Shawnee, the city that was hit yesterday where a couple of people were killed. Their mom is closer to where the huge tornado hit today--and they couldn't get ahold of her for awhile and hadn't been able to talk her into going to a shelter. She ended up being fine. My heart is absolutely broken for the people in Moore, OK -- who lost children and other loved ones--not to mention their homes, businesses and other property. There is such devastation there.

I guess it's easy for me to say there's been too much death today--when it is all a bit removed from me, some of it by time and some of it by distance and not knowing the people personally. I do feel deeply for those have been so affected by all this devastation and loss. I am especially thinking of the families who have lost their precious children and other loved ones and how heartbroken they must be. I am thinking of them with much tenderness and pray they may find comfort and peace in the days, weeks and months ahead as they begin to rebuild their lives. God bless all of you in Oklahoma and all the storm ravaged areas.