Need some support Pt. 1 (long)

BLESS YOUR HEART HUN, OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU AND YOURS. HUGS U TIGHT. LORI

Rhonda, I didn't see this until today, but just wanted you to know that I'm praying for you. It's really tough - my DS has lost two best friends since 7th grade, one 4 weeks ago in a drowning (he was also huffing and it's likely that's what killed him - there may not even have been water in his lungs) while he and DS and other friends were out together. That boy had just been at my house 45 minutes earlier to pick up DS - and it was a week before I could get past, "He can't be dead - he was just here 45 minutes ago." It seems completely impossible, and your heart will always go out to those parents, while nearly freezing in fear at the possibility that the day may come when your own greatest effort isn't enough to prevent your child from being next. It doesn't matter that you had your gp's longer than most. My maternal gm was more of a mother to me than her daughter ever will be, and when she died (I was 40) it was STILL devastating. I was over 20 before even losing the first gp, and much closer to 40 before the rest died and still miss each of them terribly. It leaves a hole in your life, and sometimes I think a bigger hole just because, as adults, we have more appreciation for what their presence adds to our lives. As for the other stuff...I'm a firm believer that it's the little things that kill ya, not the big ones. I mean it. That stuff adds and piles and can be suffocating. The only answer I've ever found is to give it all to the Lord and ask Him to carry those burdens for a while and give you some grace and peach and His strength till things ease up. "This, too, shall pass." is really pertinant - sometimes the only way to get by something is go through it to the other side- don't forget that the other side is there even when its existence seems murky. "Sometimes He calms the storm, with a whisper, "Peace be still" but that doesn't mean He will. Sometime He holds us close, and lets the winds and waves go wild. Sometimes He calms the storm, and other times, He calms His child." Denise