Two weeks

The last two weeks have been tough. My grandmother and my great uncle both passed away. They were in their late 80s and had been devoted and hard-working. They had good lives and I was very gratified to see so many people come for the funerals and share their stories and appreciation for my grandmother and uncle.

We drove down to Florida for my grandmother's funeral and then we came up through Georgia, S. Carolina, N. Carolina, and Maryland (I was to give a couple of talks at Johns Hopkins) before heading for Cleveland last Thursday morning. Friday was spent catching up on emails, to the best of my abilities, and then Saturday I received the call from my Mom about my uncle passing. I made reservations to fly down to Dallas, meet my Mom, pick up a rental car, and then drive to Corsicana for the funeral on Monday morning.

The funeral was sad but it was very good to see my cousins and more extended family, many of whom I haven't seen in over 20 years. So we helped each other get through the sad parts and enjoyed catching up with each other.

One ripple triggered by these events has been a renewed commitment on both Ruth's and my part to put our families and friends higher on our list of priorities. We feel like we've neglected many people whom we have been close to and have been very supportive of us over the years. Frankly, we need to change and do a better job of showing our appreciation for people we care deeply about. I'm afraid that we're both bad about writing and sending "thank yous" and holiday cards. We will have to do better.