Holy Cow!

It's been a seriously wierd couple of months in one particular way.  Deaths.  The deaths have been wierd. The one I've struggled most with has been Charlie's. He was one of the few I kept in contact with after retirement.  Charlie represented the absolute best of what our agency once was. His other name was God as far as certain things that the once great Coast and Geodetic Survey did. Not to mention that he could make you laugh so hard you peed your pants.  A couple days before Christmas we got an email: Charlie died in a house fire.  A flippin house fire.  I can grasp Charlie died of a heart attack.  Or Charlie died in a car accident.  But I'm still struggling with Charlie died in a fire.

Then a few days later:  Leo's brother died on Christmas day in the blizzard that hit the Dakotas.  He went out to tend to his cattle and he died.  Leo is also part of The Good Old Days.  So wierd.

Then Harry.  From my church group.  A few days ago he went to sleep.  And just didn't wake up.  I'm not only shocked but worried about his wife, who I thought would go much sooner and who I thought was beginning to show some signs of dementia.

Today was a seriously freaky shock and an unpleasant blast from the past.  I was skimming through a crime report website for the eastern panhandle of WV and suddenly I saw where a guy who stabbed his clinical social worker to death 14 years ago had finally not only been ruled sane but has been sent to prison for life without parole.

I remember that phone call.  My daughter was crying.  She graduated from college with the victim.  She was trying to help him and he stabbed her over and over and over.  Finally, after 14 years, the murderer being put away forever.

It's been a wierd couple months.