Apparently, it is my year to spend a lot of time with death and grieving. My friend Harriet's mother died recently and last night was the visitation at her house. It is about half an hour north in another county. We had an early supper and were headed there about 6. As we came out of our driveway, we saw the emergency vehicles turning into our neighbor's. Ray M. was out with an umbrella, guiding them. I jumped out of the car and ran over to him. I walked in the drive with him. He has just been diagnosed with ALS and his speech is unclear and his walking unsteady. "It's Steve," he said, "our oldest son. He's dead." They had been in Augusta for medical tests confirming Ray's condition and come home to find their son, age 42, dead in their house. I don't know how he died yet, and the police wouldn't let me in the house. My husband and I stood around and comforted them as best we could when they came out. We offered to stay with them and they said they had calls to make. I called our minister and Nancy H. and then we went on our way to Harriet's.

There were a few friends there, whom we knew somewhat. A couple people from Clarke Central that I hadn't yet met, including the "new" principal. He called for directions and I talked him in, using the Map on my iPhone. Harriet's mother, Margaret, was 92, so her death was not as upsetting in some ways. On the other hand, she was relatively healthy. She had been to the funeral of her youngest brother (there were 12 of them and she was the last one living). Harriet was with her. They had stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home and she had fallen and hit her head on the tile floor. She was in the hospital in Macon for five days before she died. Harriet was doing pretty well, but was not looking forward to the funeral. Her Mom had many friends and was very active in First United Methodist, the biggest church in Athens. So it will be a big deal and Harriet (as is often the case) will have to greet and comfort many people when she would rather be comforted. 

I did not sleep well.

Other than that, it was a good day. The weather was beautiful in the morning when I was sitting at the Arch. I finished a third hat. I had lunch with my friend Becky and went to the writing workshop. During the two hours, we watched the sky darken and the rain start to fall. It's raining a little still this morning, from the souonds on the roof. We had a good dinner of lentil soup and an omelet that included peppers from the garden. There are still a lot of peppers to eat or do something with.

We were home before 9, in time to watch a few shows and read a bit before we went to sleep.