Three Funerals, and a smashed Dog

Wow. It's been a whole year, well about three months since I last posted on here.
I'm not sure how many people read this quirky blog, but for those of you who do, I apologize.

Life happens. And in those past three months, life did happen. Both life and death.
With the birth of my new fantasy book, so much has happened. So much that it's hard to put everything down into words.

Not too long ago, my Grandpa Larsen fell down and broke his hip. Shortly after his hip operation, he passed away. He was a great man, a great father to my mother, and a great grandpa. He was there for my mom, and my family, when we needed it most. He will be missed!

Then about two weeks after that, My Grandma Skeem fell down, and she too broke her hip--- had an operation, and was sent to the same room that my Grandpa was in before he died. I thought it very uncanny.

But unlike my grandpa, my grandma was then sent home to the hospital near my home. My sister and I got to sing to her and visit with her, and I thought that perhaps she might recover.
However the day after we sang to her, she went to heaven.
She too will be greatly missed. She was my mentor in all things flowers. She and I spent many happy summer hours gardening in her flower patch. It was there we talked about life, and people, and what kinds of flowers and people were best.

Note to anybody with grandparents. Don't send them to the hospital to get operated on if they break their hip, unless you feel it absolutely necessary. I think the percentage of old people who get their hips operated on and then die, is very high.
Plus, my brother in law's grandma, who lives in Chili, broke her hip---because she couldn't afford an operation, she was put in a wheelchair instead, and she's doing fine. She's alive, and a-okay. I think the pain medicine they put old people on for the operation is too strong, and it kills their hearts or something. I'm no doctor. But I'm just sayin...
Sorry. Got sidtracked.

It's weird, this year my sister and I have sung at three of our relatives funerals. First my aunt Connie, at the beginning of the year, and then both my grandparents.

Such are the moments in time. Here one moment, gone the next. It reminds me to cherish the moments we have, and to really live life, and to love the people in it.
For we really don't know when God will call us home.

Then, not long after my grandma passed away, a couple weeks before Christmas, our family's dog, Anne, my pal/buddy, protector--- got smashed by a car.
What really hurt was the fact that I just let her off her chain. I had the feeling to let her sleep in the back room for the night. But I didn't. Thus some part of me feels the painful regret of not following that small voice, and having to live with the consequences.

Sometimes life does seem so not cool. Sometimes it seems really crappy. So to all of you who are having crappy times, who are going through sickness, heartache, loss, heartbreak, or all the above. I sympathize. When stuff like that happens, you really don't want anyone telling you it's going to be okay.
You just want to turn off the lights, pull the covers over your head, cry and feel miserable.

So that's what I did. And after awhile I didn't feel so crappy.
As of today, I feel happy. It doesn't mean I don't miss those who have passed. No. I miss them a lot. But it does remind me to hold on to life. It reminds me to wake up. It reminds me that only this moment, this now, this second is all we really have, and that we should take that moment, and the people in that moment, and make it count!
Take a min to watch this video. It's really good.

It says it all.
Thanks for reading.
Steph

P.S.
During the past months I've done so many interesting projects that I'd like to share with you all. I was going to put them all here in one blog post. But I think it would be too crowded. So I decided instead of 'blogging' you down in one huge blog post, (I like my pun) I'll just post one project at a time. Next post: My homemade ice skating rink.
So stay tuned. : )