reality check. 1.

the past 2 weeks have been a serious reality check.

it started with a mid-day phone call from my best friend to tell me that her mother had died. this was completely unexpected. there was no serious illness, no warning signs. just here one minute, gone the next. in a whirlwind, i packed up work from my desk, made a couple of phone calls, drove home, packed a suitcase, and was dropped off at the airport. a couple of hours later, i was hugging my friend, not sure what to say in the wake of this unbelievable and unbearable tragedy.

we spent the evening in mourning. and the next day we had to make a 4 hour drive to where my friend's mother had been vacationing so that my friend could sign some paperwork and take care of some things. after the business was taken care of, we made a stop at taylor creek, a gorgeous creek-side trail where my friend had gone many times with her mother and family. it was a beautiful afternoon and the creek was overflowing. we even stripped off our shoes and socks to wade through parts of the paved trail. i held my friend's hand as we walked the last section of the trail back to the lookout and as she read from Ecclesiastes. yes, there is a time and a season for everything, but it certainly doesn't feel like this is the right time or season for this loss. a reality check.

the reality is that we don't know what happened. and we won't for another few weeks. there's a chance we'll never know what happened. but the reality is our days here are numbered. there is a time to be born and a time to die. and that time can be really sucky.