Heavy heart.

This has been a weird week.  It seems weird to say, but two parents of two kids I was friends with growing up died.  And another nearly lost her dad.

It was three completely unrelated incidents.  On Sunday, a friend (heck, she was in my wedding!) wrote on Facebook, "My poor daddy is sick, but I am so so thankful he is still with us!"

That'll rock your world.  One day he was fine, the next?  Near to death.  He's fine now, but how scary is that?  Her parents are younger than mine.

Two days later I see an old friend's mother died.  I remember her well... she was funny.  She could do birthday parties like a pro-- including one where a kid broke her arm during the party, on the swingset.  It was a sleepover and rather than sending everyone home, they took her to the hospital while the party went on.  That's impressive.

And then the next day I see another friend's father died.

I played at their houses.  We had sleepovers and did stupid things to get attention.  There may or may not have been some underwear in the freezer on occasions.

It's times like these that being 8 hours away is really tough.  I'm not able to go to the visitation, to tell the families in person that I am sorry for their loss.  No one here knows them, so everyday life goes on like normal.  And in the midst of all this sadness?  Last night at church we had our first service at the new building.  It's a new location and very exciting for everyone.  As we were singing it was truly a joyful moment.

But in that happy moment?  All I could do was pray.  Pray for the families who lost someone too young.  For my old friends who lost a parent.  How do you even begin to cope with that?

I don't have all the answers, but if you have a moment today, could you please pray for their families?