don't sweat the small stuff

This month 3 people in our extended circle of life have died. We didn't know any of them very well but all have touched our hearts and made us realize life is fragile and such a blessing and also to feel grief for the families that are suffering.

Sometimes posts like this can be depressing so feel free to skip, but I am not meaning to be super depressing rather to be grateful for what I have.

1. Ken Scherer. 51 year old dad of twins Calvin's age (+ a 4 year old) died of a GBM. The most aggressive and awful brain tumor there is. The family is a great family. Every summer they invite everyone in their kids' classes over for swim parties 1 day a week, host cookie decorating events during holiday times and generally have an open door policy for friends and family. Very neat. He was diagnosed only 2 months before he died. About 1 month prior to his death they emailed to friends and family to let them know of the diagnosis and invite them to come any time day or night to spend time and say good byes, which I think is quite amazing in and of itself.

2. Nick Venuto. About a week later. 40 year old dad of two kids (their second grader was in my chorus at school) was bicycling home from work at 6:20 pm when he was hit by a car and killed instantly. The weird thing about this accident is that he was riding on a "protected" bike trail up a small hill and with a fence providing a barrier from the freeway. The driver was not drunk nor did she have a stroke or other medical issue. She was 27 years old and claims to have over corrected and gone off the road (50 yards up a hill on grass) but there is an investigation going on as to what happened there since it was such a large deviation from the road. The passenger says the driver was not texting. She actually hit two bikers and the second is in critical condition still. Heartbreaking; so sad.

These two hit close to home becuse 1. dave is a biker himself and I always worry he will get hit when he is out biking. 2. both families had 2nd graders. My Mom died when Dan (my bro) was in 2nd grade.

3. Nkiru Amene. 27 year old killed in a car accident yesterday in Nigera while attending a wedding. She is the little sister of one of the residents in Dave's program. (The resident who is the same year as dave.) Click on the previous sentence for a link to an old post about Dave and Chiazo. So tragic and hard to lose a sister who is so young. She was about to start an MBA program at Harvard in the fall.

It makes me think about how I should be a little more grateful about all that I have and to appreciate each day a little more. Sometimes for me a good vs. bad day teeters on events that are so trivial in comparison to those things that these families are going through. I considered writing a post this morning about my bad luck of the day...being shut out of my email account (still SUPER ANNOYING) and having broken my brand new camera (still SUPER LAME since it is only 1 month old and in 2 weeks I need it to take pictures of my baby), but I realized that these are such small matters in the real scheme of things.

Remember the books about don't sweat the small stuff...there was one called, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and it's all Small Stuff" and so most of what we fret and fight and worry over really is small.