Here in Almost Heaven; June 26, 2020

Good evening from Huntington, West Virginia.

(If you're under 30, you may not have gotten the heading reference.  And if you're older than 30 and didn't, google John Denver).

I'm beginning my return trip back to a troubled Texas over the COVID-19 crisis after going to Pennsylvania late last week to help my cousin and fiance prepare for and meet with the attorney who will be opening up the estate of my uncle Dave who passed away last Tuesday from injuries suffered in a fire at his house early Monday morning, June 15.

I really hate to say it, but if my grandparents' house were still in the family after my grandmother passed last June 25, I would have stayed in Pennsylvania until everything gets back on track in the Lone Star State.

The county that I'm from - Blair County - may have less than 100 active cases right now.

Granted, I would consider it basically a rural county, but if I were running away from it I would go there.  (Even though I've seen people as cavalier to it all as those in Texas are, including a health care worker that walked into a Sheetz without a mask on.)

I have changed my tune, by the way, on masks after all of the businesses in Pennsylvania and Maryland that I went into required them (even though some in Pennsylvania I didn't see visibly enforcing things).

While I don't spend a lot of time in any business, other than a movie theater recently, I will wear them ongoing, even if I go to Montgomery County to do certain shopping, as I have largely this past week here on the road.

I saw one person on a friend's post calling Harris County judge Lena Hidalgo an idiot and my thought was, "How many people have to die from this for you to stop calling her that?"

One is too many.

You may choose to block, unfriend or unfollow me on social media and avoid me personally, and that's OK, but something I've known all along as I've read how people suffer from - and die from - this disease, many have died the same way my sister did in 2014 -- from the flu.

They go into an ICU, get on a vent and never get off and die.

I'm fortunate and I thank God as much as I can - and certainly never enough - that I can - because of my job - limit my interactions with others.

In some lighthearted moments, I've said that I was social distancing long before it was required.

I like my space and unless I invite you in it, stay out.  And the rules haven't changed, but they just have gotten more serious.

Despite the tragedy last week involving my uncle, I'm thankful to God for many things.

I was glad that my aunt - and my Dad and uncle's sister - was able to make it back to Pittsburgh before my cousin had to make the tough decision to let his Dad go.  My Dad was unable to travel and she was able to be with my cousin and fiance.

I was able to spend time with the two of them on both Saturday and Sunday as well some time with my cousin at the attorney's office Tuesday afternoon and again - the two of them - today before I left to return home.

For two young people, who will marry in the next year or so, to handle this, including my cousin losing both his Mom and Dad within six months of each other, as well as they have - is remarkable.

And I told them both that repeatedly and put it here in writing.

While the desire for my aunt and uncle to make me the executor of their wills were rooted in another time in their son's life, I'm always honored that they trusted me to be wise enough to do the right things by their son.

He's matured a whole lot since then and has a good help mate in his fiance.  And as he said today before I left, "it's time to put on his big boy pants".

I'm proud of them both and look forward to working with them to meet the legal obligations with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and eventually close the estate to their benefits.

It was good to visit with Doug and Pat - my great aunt's son and family friend, respectively - in Tyrone a little bit today, both of whom helped my grandparents and our family out in Pennsylvania while part of us are in Texas.

I'm thankful, of course, for safe travels.

And as I stated earlier, I'm appreciative of my employer who has allowed me to step away a few times to handle some things related to these matters.

However, I am looking forward to being home to get back into some of the routines that I was doing to stay healthy.

I think I've logged over 500 miles of running or brisk walking since mid-March.  That's a new high for me.  And I need to safely maintain and do more, if possible.

I'm also grateful that my daughter is able to be visiting currently her best friend from college and her husband in Virginia this week.

If I've said it once, I've said it 500 times, I'm very proud of my daughter and who she is and what she's made of herself.

I hope to get in a run here in the morning to remember a running friend who passed away this week at the age of 78.  He graduated from Marshall University, which is located here in Huntington.  I plan to get a few miles in in memory of Charlie Viers.

Hug your family members, tell them you love them and reach out to your friends - but don't touch them - and make sure they are doing OK.  (Well, if you shake their hands, just make sure you wash immediately after - just in case!)

Time Marches On; June 17, 2020

You know, maybe it is one of those things that you just experience more as you get older.

And that's people you love leaving this earth.

Some do so after a long, well-lived life and others way, way too soon.

My family has had quite a go of it here the past few years.

Of course, my sister and my grandfather - my Dad's dad - passed away in 2014.

My Dad's sister's third husband, Ted, passed away just after Hurricane Harvey made its way through the Gulf Coast area in 2017.

My great aunt Phyllis - my grandfather's sister - expired on February 17, 2019.

My grandmother - my Dad's mom - died last year at the age of 94 last June.  It will be a year ago on June 25.

My Dad's brother's wife - my aunt Ginger - died unexpectedly three days before Christmas 2019.

My great aunt Jane - my grandmother's sister - joined her sister in Heaven on March 11, just three months ago.

And two family members of my daughter's mother - both on her mother's side of the family - passed away this year in Tennessee.

We learned Monday morning, June 15, that my Dad's brother - my uncle Dave - was burned over 80 percent of his body in a fire at his house in Duncansville, Pennsylvania very early in the morning (close to midnight actually).

He was life-flighted to UPMC's Trauma and Burn Center in Pittsburgh Monday morning and it was determined Tuesday evening that there wasn't any more that they could do for him and that he passed about 90 minutes from midnight.

My Dad's sister - my aunt Peggy - flew there yesterday (Tuesday) to be with Dave's son Travis and his fiance to help deal with everything and it looks like I'll start traveling to Pennsylvania Wednesday evening to assist Travis with all of the legal things that he'll have to be a part of dealing with.

Much of this, including my Dad's stroke earlier this year during our current COVID-19 pandemic, I haven't shared with more than one or two people outside of my immediate family.

For all of my involvement over the years in the community, including what I share on social media,  I've simply chosen - even though I have people that view me in a very favorable fashion - not to share too much of my personal life.

I pulled this up late Tuedsay evening and it fits, "We are okay with the idea of giving our burdens to God, but we aren’t so keen on sharing them with those around us."

Yes, Alyssa J. Howard, the person who wrote this four years ago on a blog, that's me to a "T".

She went on to write that it was pride that was a refusal to share - and even using Galatians 6:2-3 that one might think that they're too important to help someone else.

The verse she went on to reference was, "Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. – Galatians 6:2-3 (NLT)"

The latter - helping someone - simply isn't the case with me.

I think it is more that I'm just a fairly private person, but sharing in this fashion - the written word - is the most comfortable way for me to get out and manage my thoughts and feelings.

My employer and work team has been great over the years in allowing me the time to deal with the situations with my sister, grandparents and my Dad.  I couldn't be more thankful.

The issue is that I'll have some legal responsibilities to fulfill on behalf of the wishes of my aunt and uncle and my Dad, who handled most of the things for my grandmother after my grandfather passed and almost all of the items after she passed, is simply not in the physical condition to be able to travel as he desires to.

I know my Dad shared with those on his Facebook page Monday and Tuesday and all of our family is certainly appreciative of all of the prayers that so many requested of the Lord.

As my Dad shared with me Tuesday evening, relaying a conversation that he had with our church's pastor emeritus here recently, there's just certain things that we won't fully understand until it is our time to pass to the other side.

Friends, hug your loved ones as much as you can.

I've had my failings in this area over the years - and it is just a result of my fighting my own battles and not from any lack of care or concern of those closest to me.

A verse from my childhood, James 4:14 (KJV) -- "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." 

So very true.

Friday Night Something; June 12, 2020

If you had told me 20 years ago that the way to break my boredom for a weekend was to go out and run around the great state of Texas, I'd have laughed at you.

I just shuttered at the thought of sitting still for a whole weekend. 

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy sitting and reading a good book or two, but doing more of that - or other sedentary activities - than other things ... I just feel like I'm wasting a bit of my life away.

Still there's so much that I like to do that I can't, but that's changing in a few weeks.  Let's hope.

In two weeks, I'm going to run a 5K in Jacksboro (Jack County) then drive out to Lubbock to cover the Ironman Texas 70.3 for Texas Runner and Triathlete magazine.

I'm already looking for a race for the Fourth of July.  Likely, I will be going to Mexia (which would be a new county - Freestone - to run a race in), and then to see a Texas Collegiate League baseball game somewhere as they will kick off that weekend.

Next weekend, I may go to Abilene to take part in the Abilene Runners Club's Summer Solstice Run, which includes a 5-miler, a three-hour run and a six-hour run.

Beyond all of this, it is make it up as I go.

There were lots of things in the world that were almost sure things that you could plan on so far in advance.  All of that has been turned upside down.  More than once or twice even!

So who knows what I'm working on these days. 

I will see my 25th movie of the year in my 15th different theatre.  And, yes, I think I have most of the theatres in the state on a tab on my big master spreadsheet.

If you're reading, short and sweet here.

Have a great weekend - and thanks for your friendship.