Life Marked Fragile and 2,500 Pennies

Yesterday was a rather strange day and a day which reminds me about the fragility of life. It seemed like every time I turned around I heard something sad. First I heard that my fathers neighbor killed himself, then I heard that a young man whom I had babysat as a baby was found dead by his parents and then I heard that one of my aunt's newborn twin grand babies was being flown to St. Louis to have heart surgery. Apparently a narrowing of the aorta is the culprit. It was just bam...bam....bam. In the first case it was an individual who was seemingly distraught and unable to handle life any further, so he took matters into his own hands leaving pain and grief in his wake. In the second situation it was a case of possibly it just being this young mans time. Perhaps there were bad choices involved or perhaps it was just a situation that was taken out of human hands. On the third case.....I have yet to hear. When I went to bed last night they were expecting that the surgery could go well into the night and as of yet I have no idea if it was a success or not. I just pray it was. 

In all these cases though....life proves to be so delicate. One second there is life and the next...it can be gone whether by choice, by accident or by a situation taken completely out of anyone's hands. I won't lie.....it all took me back to a place in my own life that I prefer not to visit very often. A place where you wake up with life being one thing and you go to bed with it being quite another and somewhere in between, you find yourself gigantically sucker punched. And when the fragility of life shows itself suddenly......unexpectedly......it is all that much harder to pull your world back into sync and remember that the world does not stop, the sun still shines and for those still here.....even those left to grieve......life goes on. Dying is part of living and none of us gets out alive, but that doesn't make the realization any easier.....nor does it make the healing process any less painful. So I wait.....hoping and praying that a tiny newborn life was spared and knowing that through it all....life goes on. 

And so it is Tuesday! Today Z got to play snake killer as another one of those beasts went after one of my dogs. When did garter snakes become aggressive? I have always grown up around them as my mother had gardens my entire life and we spent our summers trying to avoid weed pulling and garden tending. In the process I have run into my share of snakes. Never were the garters aggressive. Always they would just slither around trying to blend in and avoid human contact as much as possible. Mom always liked having them in her garden. However....she might have had a different view of them if they came up and deliberately started a fight. This is what these creatures seem to want to do. They are like angry snakes or snakes with roid rage. They are out to bite someone and my kids and my dogs seem to be their target. All I can figure is that I have a nest somewhere and Z seems to think it is under our shed. So how do you rid your yard of rabid snakes? Have I ever mentioned how much I hate snakes? And here I am having them come after me! Argh!

Well, despite what the calendar says officially.....physically summer is upon us and in full swing. We are having yet another day of 100 or above temps. I gave up over the weekend and just turned the AC on. I can't have David dehydrate and Z's heat hives get out of control every time he sweats, so goodbye $180 electrical bills and hello $600 electrical bills. And that is keeping the thermostat at 75. Sigh! The joys of summer cooling!

The nephew was over last night and Aunt Lisa broke the rules. Ayden is not suppose to watch Spongebob. Apparently in some circles it is deemed crude, rude, and socially unacceptable. Oops.....Yeah, I was pretty sure as they were walking out the door last night that Ayden wouldn't be visiting again for awhile. Last time I watched him.....he licked me and I said "gross!" This it appears, was a new word his vocabulary had not yet met. Once introduced....it became his favorite and I have heard several times since that they did not appreciate its introduction into his young life. I said....Don't teach your kid to lick....and I won't teach your kid new words! Again....don't think Ayden will be back anytime soon! Oh well, David and Ayden had a ball while he was here!

So what to do with Tuesdays in June. Hmmmmm....I decided to go a little offbeat with the offbeat or odd bits of news. Not that most of it isn't odd, but some is odder than others. Today's is not so much odd as it is strange that it would make the news and stranger yet that someone would be cited for paying his bill. Apparently now....there is a law in how you pay your bill. Last I knew...pennies were still legally accepted currency and 2,500 of them....though a lot were still a fair exchange for $25 in services. That though, is obviously not how everyone sees it. While I am sure this gentleman's form of payment was a little unsettling.....it was hardly worth being cited for it and after dealing with my share of medical offices and their demanding billing depts. I would be tempted to pay the citation just to get some satisfaction for making them count a few pennies. Again though....why would such a story make the news? Slow news day I guess!

Well...it is time to face the day. Here is hoping that your Tuesday is happy, bright and lived to the fullest. Happy Tuesday everyone!