A little rain...

Sometimes things go along so smoothly, and then there come the bumps in the road. Just last weekend I was have a great time with librarians in Denver, at the MPLA board meeting, and at Chico Hot Springs for the ASLD/PLD retreat (in spite of the weather - that's a bump to be expected around here). The weather even cleared up this week and turned back into the gorgeous fall we love.

Then this weekend happened: Saturday my dad called me at work in a panic - at a health screening an aneurism was discovered on his aorta; he was told to go to the emergency room right away. The librarian in me did some research: it turns out this was exactly what my grandmother died from 25 years ago. So it would seem to be a serious condition, and possibly genetic. Dad will be seeing a vascular surgeon soon - hopefully surgery will fix this, and he'll be as good as new.

Sunday morning, making plans to spend the day with James-Philip, he says he has bad news. One never knows what this will bring when JP is involved, so I prepared for the worst, but never expected this: his friend, Joana, a girl I'd met once and heard a lot about, had died Thursday. No apparent reason. She was 32.

Sunday night, checking my email, I see a "Shocking news" message from my dad. I figured he was sending a message about his health news to the family, so began to read and was shocked to learn my mom's best friend, since childhood, had died in her sleep the night before. Her husband got up Sunday morning, made coffee as usual, came back to get Ann and found her dead. I can't even begin to imagine... My folks plan to go visit next month for the memorial service. She was 76, the same as my mom.

So this puts a lot of things into perspective. Really taking care of my health has to be a top priority - high cholesterol and blood pressure seem to be causes of aneurisms (and you can spell it both ways: aneurysm for those purists out there). As James-Philip said when talking about Joana, you can never tell, and when your time is up, it's up. My mom agreed, but said she'd like a little hint: 76? 80? But there are no hints, so make the most of your time.

I'm going for a nice long walk now, on this beautiful fall day.