I thought I knew what I would write about today, but that was before yesterday afternoon.

Were your parent’s full of “bad luck” sayings?  For me, it was my Aunt Violet.  She would immediately swipe a hat off the bed (that’s supposed to bring bad luck), 3 on a match would make her practically hysterical (of course the validity of that is recognizable to anyone familiar with WWII)….and death always came in three’s.  I got a call yesterday while I was making dinner to tell me that my CT friend Karen B had died.  You might remember me talking about Karen last February/March…she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and I made a pink quilt for her.  She was a lifelong smoker and never wanted to give it up because she really liked smoking, and never thought anything bad would happen.  Monday morning (11/28) I headed up to the Lake House to collect monetary donations for the Volunteer Angel Tree project.  One of the people going by while I was there was our dog sitter.  I asked her how her husband was doing (his voice had been ruined by e-cigarettes) and she told me he had died the week before Thanksgiving.  I was shocked….other than his vocal problem I didn’t realize anything was wrong….but again…he was a lifelong smoker who had no interest in giving it up, and he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.  She indicated that it was a horrible end and nothing that anyone would want to go through.  When I got home, I had some lunch and read my newest book for a bit until my phone rang.  When I saw WILMINGTON, DE on the phone I knew….one of my good friend’s brother had died.  He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer around Labor Day and basically due to other health problems was never strong enough to get the chemo he needed; he left a 9 year old daughter.

What’s the moral of this story?  I don’t really have one except to say cherish the people that are close to you.