Loss

The phone rang very early Wednesday morning - it was B. .  Rare for him to ring the land line.  I knew the minute I heard his voice something was wrong.  My first thought was 'he wrecked his brand new (to him) car'.  But no.  Not anything as simple as that.

A good friend had died.  He'd seen it on Facebook and had very few details.  He was just stunned and shocked and sad.  It was the guy who sold him the truck he drove for a few years - the first car he ever bought on his own.  He loved that truck - and he loved his friend.  He told me that S. was one of the first friends he made in El Paso - a few guys sitting around outside with an ice chest full of beer and S. asked 'hey, you want to hang out and have a few beers with us'?  The rest is history.  There are plenty of pictures showing that group of guys having fun over the years.

B. was so sad thinking that maybe his friend had hurt himself - a not uncommon thing among military.  And shocked - just stunned.

The next day, I googled the young man's name hoping to find an obituary - and came across a news article.  S. was working on tree cleanup on Hilton Head Island and he died when he was hit by a tree part.  He was airlifted to a hospital and died the next morning.

I sent B. the link and he wrote right back and said 'I just found out and was about to message you so you would know'.  Still sad and sudden but grateful he died in the outdoors (which he loved) and working with a group - which by everything I've heard about him was his element.  He was a great all-around nice guy - always smiling; always happy - no matter what he was doing.  He will be missed by many.

We just got an emergency alert on our cell phones - shrieking like we've never heard before. Scared us both and for a few seconds, we weren't sure how to make the shrieking stop.  There's a levee break near Manteca on the Stanislaus river - not 'close' to us but still worrisome because the San Joaquin River isn't too far from the Stanislaus and the SJR is overflowing it's banks and flooding everywhere it runs in San Joaquin County (where we live).

We aren't near the flooding but we have friends who have a home on 3 acres that's built up a bit - and it's likely they are surrounded by water.  I'm checking in with them shortly.

I enjoyed a 3-day weekend off which I really needed - I feel tired to my bones.  I still have quite a bit of things to juggle at work and while I am looking forward (very much!) to our weekend in Reno, I have so much to accomplish in order to be able to get away and enjoy that weekend without fretting about work.  It's hard to believe we are almost officially in March - can't get over how quickly time goes.

It's still steadily raining and J. drained the pool quite a bit - again.  I think this is the 5th time.  This is definitely a wet winter and we are so grateful for the water.  But we're so tired of rain.

Chloe isn't feeling well.  She spent Thursday at the vet for her glucose curve - she's still really high and they upped her dose of insulin again.  She hasn't been 'right' since she got home and we're trying to figure out what's going on with her.  She's itchy and sullen and whining a lot for no reason.  Poor baby.

I'm heading up to bed soon - it's early but tomorrow is a 'Monday' technically and I want to be well rested.  It's a board meeting day so super long -