It's done

Pop died early Saturday morning. His suffering is over. We are holding up ok, just understandably sad. I will miss him terribly. However, receiving so much support and caring from so many friends the past few weeks have been a true blessing. Please know that Pop had the top-notch best care available, and that Mom has plans underway and will be ok.

Louis Adolph Strobel
b. January 29, 1923
d. June 19, 2010

Braindump

It's funny how the universe works. The same year my dad and favorite cat die is when I get my first composition published, and performed in two different states. I've made my first presentation as a clinician at our state music educator's conference. I played in my first good paying gig in years. I've had some of my highest highs and lowest lows already, and we're not even out of June yet.

Mom and my brother went to Galveston this morning to watch the sun rise after everything was done dealing with the immediacy of my dad's death (around 3am). They visited their old house that they lived in just after returning from Germany in 1950 or 1951, I can't remember. Mom met the woman who lived there now who wants to hear her stories of Galveston and of her life.

Today Pookie and I got haircuts while out at Pittsburgh Mills. When we drove in, it was hot and ucky. We drove home in a heavy downpour, and now the sun is out and it's much nicer. We look different and the weather has changed. We all change, all the time. In every day there is death and rebirth. Something is new and something else stops. Tomorrow holds the same process, the same promise, as will every day thereafter.

That my mother is holding and has held up so well has been extremely important. Equally important is the support of my wife and daughter, without whom I would feel lost. Your prayers and reaching out to me and my family, both here and in Texas, have helped carry me across a path that I dare not wish to walk alone. I know the good Lord is watching over us all in all of this, through the connection I feel with my family and friends and through my own meditations with Him.

There is no such thing as coincidence. Where there is tragedy, there is opportunity for healing. Where there is brokenness, there is opportunity for mending. Where there is success, there is opportunity for sharing. There is opportunity in every circumstance we encounter if we wish to discover it.

I wish you all the most of your opportunities, as I try to make the most of mine. My love and sincerest thanks go out to all of you.