Life

Well, life is in many ways great. Five of you have sent cards to Karen's Card Shop, for which I am so very grateful. Thank you. School is going extremely well, for which I am so very grateful. I had time to stamp about a month ago and am now am making time to post one of the pictures, for which I am grateful.

Stamps by Hero Arts

The full-card picture looks rather washed out because the colors are so light and my photo skills are limited, but in real life, those pearls are pearly and the colors are soft and frosty looking, as in the close-up. Oh, how I long for cooler temperatures in this unseasonably warm autumn!

I'm grateful for so many things but also feel rather washed out and grieving. My cousin Kathy died last weekend as a result of a car accident. Her younger daughter was in the car with her and just got out of the hospital today. She will, thankfully, recover, but because she had surgery to relieve some pressure from a brain bleed, she'll be wearing a hat at the funeral. Her older sister has asked everyone to wear hats to the funeral so her little sister won't feel weird.

Kathy, her sister Jenny, my sister Lisa, and I grew up together. Kathy was funny, bright, and crafty. She taught elementary school, loved Jesus and babies, volunteered in her church, went on mission trips, led youth groups, played the guitar, loved horses, took amazing photographs, and was a huge University of North Carolina Tar Heels fan, just like her daddy. I've never held that against them, though they did rib me about going to Duke.

One memory of Kathy from our childhood keeps playing in my mind. I walked into Grandma and Papa's house and found the living room door closed, which was unusual. (Papa eventually removed that door because it was mostly just in the way.) So I knocked on the door and heard a muffled "come in." Grandma and Kathy were sitting on the sofa with their arms around each other. Both were sobbing. "What's wrong?" I exclaimed. Neither could speak through the sobs, but they both pointed to the television. It was the episode of Little House on the Prairie when Laura's dog died. I sat down and cried with them. We three were weepers. I still am. Grandma and Kathy aren't weeping anymore, and it's a small comfort to think of them together again, giggling.

Her husband, two daughters, mom, dad, sister, and so many extended family and friends are devastated right now. A bright light as gone from our lives, and we miss her so much.

Sunday, I'm wearing a Tar Heels baseball cap to the funeral. It'll make her dad smile. But y'all, my heart is breaking.