Three Times In One Day

Today must be one of those days. I worked and worked and got almost the entire house clean - floors mopped, one bathroom scrubbed, vacuumed, dusted, mirrors clean, etc. After almost 8 hours of cleaning and laundry, I ran out of steam after I vacuumed my bedroom, so tomorrow, my bedroom and bathroom, along with my regular chores. I love to do it. It makes me feel so good when it is done. It is challenging, and trying, but good. I also made a dinner using the tasteless little shrimp that were filling my freezer...We were given elk meat by a dear friend at church who is moving -(I hope he realizes just how much he blessed us!!!), and I had to make room, so I sauteed the shrimp in olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes, mixed it with some cooked pasta, and topped with mozzarella cheese. A good dinner for the guys and lunch tomorrow for both. We also had a limb break on our lemon tree in the big winds we had, so the guys took down the limb, got the lemons, we all squeezed and we canned 12 quarts of lemon juice (my freezer has tons in it already).

A busy day, indeed. But, I did have a moment, after the kitchen has been cleaned again, to reflect on the life of a dear friend. Gregg died suddenly this morning. I get emails from him all of the time. The other day, he sent a picture of a redneck with a DUI conviction: a guy on a bike with a deer over his shoulders. This morning, one of the emails I received was a warning about a new breast cancer. He is sensitive to cancer...his dear wife Joyce battled cancer, and has won. I read the emails, and deleted them, as usual. No big deal, I thought. MOre tomorrow. But, there will be no more tomorrow. Gregg shared everything via email: from funny pics, to health warnings, to politics, to...well just about everything. I took all for granted. I thought they would just keep on coming, but they won't.

Gregg was Dee's fried for more than 30 years. I just keep thinking about seeing him at Allison's wedding reception, at Ethan's wedding reception. Joyce was very ill at Allison's, and yet both of them came...all the way from Tucson, just to be with us. They came to Ethan's. Gregg was like the brother Dee never had (1 boy, 5 sisters!). I don't know if I ever told him just how much it meant to have him there for my sweetheart...what a difference he made. It didn't matter to him that we were Mormon...Dee joined the church during their friendship, and it just didn't matter to him. They were friends, and that is all that mattered. You don't find friends like that.

Dee called Gregg last Sunday night. I am so glad he did! They talked work, and politics, and worries. It was a good call. I want to tell you to take a moment...think of those people who stand by you, who help you, who hold you up, who send you email. Don't ever take them for granted. It takes just one moment to change everything.