After a busy, stressful month or so at the office and a full court press to get The Cradle ready, I was all set last week to write a longish sort of post to catch up and get back on a normal schedule again. I’d been walking around with a perpetual static in head, an AM radio buzz of stress and irritation.

And then the Fates nudged everything back into proper perspective.

On Friday morning the call came that my wife’s aunt had passed away unexpectedly in the night. She went to bed on Thursday night and when her husband woke up the next morning, she was just . . . gone.

Claudia was a good lady. She took care of her husband and her three boys, doted on her four-year-old grandson. She had a wry sense of humor, a powerful bullshit meter, and a hearty laugh.

The sudden shock of her passing is still there for her family, eclipsing everything in life. The gods only know when the sun will shine again for them.

On Facebook, my wife had this to say…

“Cherish the people you love. Give them a hug and a kiss today. Sit with them for a while and just be together. Call your mom and tell her you love her. It matters.”

Amen.