Contrast

Funerals and birthdays just don’t go together.  Certainly, the latter is more pleasant than the former, though the former serves its purpose, too.  I ended up attending both today.  The funeral came first, as the Hammings laid to rest my friend Jean.  For those of you who may not know, Jean was my secretary during my tenure as the village manager of Schoolcraft.  She was there when I was hired, and I think she – and a lot of people – thought I’d replace her with someone of my own choosing.  I didn’t, though.  Local knowledge is a good thing; Jean had it, and I was lacking.  Besides, Jean worked hard, was nice to me, and was a lot of fun.  We definitely had a lot of fun during my tenure, and we accomplished a lot in the process.  I would have taken her with me to MDOT if that had been an option; unfortunately, it wasn’t.  Cancer claimed Jean’s life last Sunday.

Dear Jean,

You’ll be missed, but I’ll look forward to seeing you again someday.  Thanks for everything.

Sincerely,

Darrell

I spent my evening at O’Duffy’s helping to celebrate Allison’s birthday.  It was a good time with friends.

Dear Al,

Hope you had a great birthday!

Sincerely,

Darrell

At the end of the day, I found myself wanting to sleep but not being sleepy, and needing to sleep so that I have a chance of running a decent race tomorrow in the Kindleberger 5K.  It’s never quite that simple, though….