That's the way it goes...

When this last few weeks came along, I found myself questioning why things happen, whether it was something good or bad. Last week, after talking with Gary, I decided that I needed to go to Utah. I called Kathy and she decided she wanted to come with me. Thanks to her and Keith's compassion, we found ourselves on Amtrak heading towards SLC Utah. It was a long and arduous ride as we started out over an hour late, thanks to a tow bridge not aligning with the tracks. Once we got into the train in Sacramento, we spent the next two hours traveling quite slowly. We were caught behind a slow moving freight train. It was late into the evening that we finally settled down and started to enjoy the ride. We came through the town of Truckee and took many a picture and also pictures of Donner Lake and the Truckee river. Richard got his nickname from the river... He is the object of the rest of this post.

Richard is Suzie's (my other sister) husband and he is suffering with cancer. He is dealing with facial, mouth and throat cancer that is also spreading to his spine and lungs.

Sunday, all of his family and me and Kate went to the rehabilitation hospital to see him. Suzie had been going almost daily to see him and was still quite shocked at the situation. When we arrived, he was having trouble breathing. His canula was filling up with liquid and making it very difficult for him to breathe. After what seemed like an eternity, he was finally fitted with a new canula and spent the rest of the visit picking on everyone and having a good time. He showed new signs of problems with parkinson type symptoms and also seemed to be excessively cold. Suzie and Dodi tended to his needs while the rest of us continued to keep him involved in light conversation.

After we left the center and went back to Suzie's house, we got together and had dinner and visited. As was the occasion, the conversation got around to Rick and it was decided that we would make a recording of the group visit with pictures and memories of how we all were involved with his life. We told funny stories, sad memories and happy thoughts of how Rick was involved in the lives of so many people and how often he cheated death. Somehow, this time I don't think he will cheat death again.

I titled this post the way I did not to show flippant attitude but to give all an understanding of how we do not have the control of everything that involves our lives and the lives of others. Heavenly Father controls what and who he wants, when and how he needs to obtain what he requires. The way it goes only manifests how he feels and how me must accept his decisions. I love you brother Rick...