What was the cause?

In January, my boyfriend, Dave, had a friend pass away very suddenly without warning.  The man was only 10 years older than Dave.  Dave was a little unsettled.

Then within a week, I got a phone call from Mom.  She called while I was at school teaching, which she never does.  When I saw that it was her, I thought it was news about my Uncle Charlie (more on him later).  It wasn't.  Dad's boss's daugher, Ashley C., passed away on the previous Saturday morning.  I worked closely with her in July & August of 2007 and we became friends.  Unfortunately, we both meant to call one another over the years, but we constantly said "messages" through my father since he worked with her.  Ashley C. was 31 years old -- I'm turning 30 in July of this year.  ::shivers::  Needless to say that this bothered me a whole hell of a lot.  Word is that she went to bed Friday night (alone -- she was single) and never woke up Saturday.  An autopsy was done, but her parents are very private people and they never told anyone about the findings.  The whole thing gets to me everyday still.  Scares me that I won't wake up tomorrow.  I'm a bit of a procrastinator (who isn't?!).  I keep saying, "I'll run tomorrow," "I'll sew tomorrow," "I'll practice next week," etc.  Truth is I can go at any time.

What Uncle Charlie?

Well Uncle Charlie has been fighting leukemia for years.  It went into remission, but has returned since.  He's been undergoing regular chemo & radiation treatments.  Well last November, he collapsed a couple of times.  The second time, Aunt Jackie couldn't get him up, so he was taken to the hospital.  Uncle Charlie had heart surgery over 20 years ago to replace an artery or valve or something (can't remember!).  Well that thing has worn out.  However, he was very weak from the leukemia treatments so they hesitated to operate.  But the doctors said they had no choice so they did operate on his heart.  He induced into a coma afterwards to help him get stronger since he was in such a weakened state.  They took him off the meds that put him in the coma a few days later.  He hasn't awakened since.  That all happened right before Thanksgiving weekend.  As far as I know, he's still in it.  :(

Plus there's Uncle Bill.  He passed away from MRSA last July.  Dad and I made a trip to Pittsburgh to say goodbye when the doctor told us that he had 3-5 days to live.  Seeing him in that state has messed with my mind.  :/  Not a fan!  That's a long story and narrative all in itself.

These four things have struck a new sense of purpose and motivation in my life.  While I haven't been as consistent as I wished, I have been doing a hell of a lot more activities each week.  I've even broken a few old mileage records for running!