Forecast

One month from today is Carter's first high school baseball game! In the meantime, we are under a winter weather "advisory." That's what they call it when it is less than a foot of snow, I guess, since we could get 4-8 inches while we are sleeping tonight.

You think spring will actually get here in a month? I have my doubts.

I guess I can't blame the weather dudes either since they have no control over the forecast. They just relay it to us and we decide (much like watching refs in a basketball game) if we want them to be right or not. Either way, when we check the forecast, we sort of know what is coming.

Oh, if life were that easy.

Much of what happens to us as individuals is as much out of our hands as the weather is for meteorologists. Some times we have just enough information to be prepared. Other times, we are blindsided.

There is a sizable network of friends and family in our community who are experiencing that right now.

A 32-year-old woman -- who in the mid-'90s was babysitting my stepsons and before graduating in '98, played on Assumption's state championship basketball team -- has died.

A week ago at this time, she was enjoying life to the fullest with her husband and 5 children, ranging in age from 7 years down to just 4 months old. The next evening, she experienced a stroke due to a blood clot in her brain. After several days on life support, her family said goodbye to her yesterday.

One cannot even comprehend the devastation that family feels. It was only a few months ago we were at the funeral home for this family when this woman's dad lost his brother to a sudden heart attack. Now, to have to bury a child, seems overwhelming. Those of us who know them or just know of them -- through the "Assumption" family -- are shaken by this. Naturally, what parent wouldn't be? What wife or husband wouldn't be? What child wouldn't be?

This could happen to any of us at any time. We can't always get a forecast. Kiley, though, knew how to prepare. She lived life with a rock-solid faith and, in the end, increased the quality of life for two people through her organ donations.

All of this is part of God's plan. It is not our place to even attempt to predict what will happen next and why. For today, He is just shaking us a bit and reminding us to love one another and be grateful for each person who holds a special place in our heart.

For today, that will bring sunshine.