This has been an incredible week. We have experienced the full gamut of weather in the last couple of days.
Earlier in the week the weather was incredibly nice with everyone outside walking, jogging, or riding their bicycles.
Then on Wednesday everything changed and we experienced freezing rain and snow in some areas relatively close by.
Today is the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City so there are a lot of visitors traveling in from Oklahoma and Nebraska to root on their teams at Arrowhead Stadium.
When I was young this was a real big game for me. Any time Oklahoma and Nebraska played it was a given that I would be in front of the television with a couple of friends rooting on the Sooners. Today though as I kick back and relax a little prior to actually "getting going," the game has lost some significance for me.
Last week a friend of mine as he was driving down to his parents for Thanksgiving received a phone call and learned that his father was just crushed to death by a tractor as he was fixing it. The friend is very close to me and as he shared all that he was feeling it really struck me hard. So I called my friend everyday up until the wake and funeral to ensure that he knew I cared for him and what he and his family was going through. I then called an left voice mail the Friday after the funeral.
The year prior almost around the same time, I lost another close friend unexpectedly too. He had complained to his wife that he didn't feel well. Subsequently, he stayed in bed all weekend thinking it would subside. When Monday came around he finally elected to see a doctor since his symptoms didn't subside. The doctor told him that he only had indigestion and sent him home. On his way home his aorta blew up in his chest. He left behind a wife and three children. He was 43.
Yesterday, I received a phone call from the Admiral's Executive Assistant. She informed me that the Admiral, my former boss had a stroke which took away his speech and movement in half of his body. This really shocked me.
The Admiral was a very special person in my life. It is not often that an enlisted military person has any opportunity to work for a two-star admiral.
As the Enlisted Aide to the Admiral my job was to drive him to and from important meetings and events, in addition to taking care of anything else he might desire. While this might not sound extremely exciting, through this experience I was able to be apart of many interesting events and meet some extremely important and interesting people.
What is the point of this post? I am not sure exactly. Maybe I need to write this to vent.
I am working on a letter to the Admiral. It will most likely be one of the most important evolutions I have ever done for him.
The reason it will be important is because I will share what has occurred since we have left California, show concern and encouragement about his current life situation, and about Jesus.
