(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!)
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