Status Update
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on this blog. The morning after the post previous to this one we received news that my wife’s nineteen year old cousin in Michigan had died. I have three young children and they all looked up to him like he was a rock star. Telling them the news was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do.
The event sent shock waves through our family and when we returned from the funeral in Michigan, I didn’t feel much like working on the car.
By mid-May it was starting to warm up here in Arizona so I began the process of putting air conditioning in my garage workshop. On the day I received the final estimate for the work, I received a phone call from my older brother in which he told me that his fiancé had suddenly fallen ill and was being transported to the hospital by ambulance.
Eleven hours later, my mom and I were in a Virginia hospital with my brother and his fiancé, Victoria. The prognosis was not good. She’d suffered a heart stoppage for an indeterminate period of time and was in a coma. Initially, the doctors weren’t able to ascertain the extent of the damage.
After eight days, she passed away and went to be with the Lord. I returned to Arizona and the following week my wife and I again flew to Michigan for a funeral.
On the day after I returned from Virginia, it was reported that my business partner’s dad was missing while hiking in the Grand Canyon. He was expected back at work, but hadn’t returned yet.
After a nine day search (in which his family participated as much as they were allowed), his body was found at the bottom of a drop-off alongside one of the hiking trails. He had been an experienced hiker and outdoorsman, but he somehow lost his footing on a narrow portion of the trail.
During the last week of June, we took a vacation to our ranch in Colorado. After decompressing in the mountains, we stepped off the plane and immediately attended my friend and business partner’s dad’s memorial service.
Forty-eight hours later, I was back in Virginia to help my brother pack and move for the next eleven days. He’s a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and this move had already been planned so he could assume his new command in Hampton, Virginia.
At the end of July, my wife, our kids, and I took our annual vacation to Michigan to see family and friends. We were gone for ten days and were able to relax and begin to put the year’s events into perspective. On our last day in Michigan, we were able to spend a Sunday afternoon eating lunch and visiting with my aunt and my grandmother. Unfortunately, a couple days after that, my grandmother was admitted to the hospital and passed away a couple weeks later. It was fantastic to have that time in Michigan to talk with her. She was a really neat lady. She was eighty-five.
When I began writing this post, I wasn’t sure how long it would be or how much I was going to share. Life has been very difficult in the past six months. Our faith in God has been tested, but not shaken. Our lives will never be the same, but we can still be joyful. Now, more than ever, I see that people and relationships are most important in life.
I’m really looking forward to finishing this car with my children. In the past month, I was able to finally have air conditioning installed in our workshop and this weekend we’re going to pick up where we left off.
New progress updates to follow soon!
God is good.