You never know when your life may end

My sister’s husband’s sister was killed yesterday morning. She was driving to work and another driver crossed over the concrete median and struck her head-on. It was in town so their speeds were not high. She was in a SUV; he was in a full size pickup. She was DOA at the hospital; he will live.
Hers was a death which should not have happened. Her death was undeserved and unexpected. We are want to ask why? And what if?
Why her? Why at this time? Why in this manner?
What if she had left home just a little sooner? Or a little later?
We know that we are temporal beings and none of us have any guaranty that we will live to see tomorrow. We know that bad things happen to good people and that bad things happen to bad people.
As much as any of us can be considered to be good, my sister’s sister-in-law was good. But more importantly she was redeemed. She has now joined those who have gone on before us. Those like my grandparents, and my father, and my aunt and uncle, and several of my friends.
We are grieved at her passing but we are also gratified to know that we have the promise of being able to one day see her again.

Her name is Nancy Jo

Today is my sister’s birthday.  Out of consideration for her and for me I’ll not divulge her age.
The question that presents itself is what does one give to one who lives in southern California in a scrumptious home only blocks from the beach and who travels the world over annually?
This query reminds me of a similar one that we grappled with as she and I and our two other sibs grew up and were faced with Father’s Day, pop’s birthday, and Christmas. What do we give our dad who had closets full of new suits and all of the accessories? What do we give a man who has a boat and a camper trailer which he rarely, if ever used?  As I recall he hardly ever used them. I know that I never was included in using them.  What do we give a man who drove a Chrysler New Yorker  around in the cow pasture? In essence, what do we give a man who we felt had everything? Well, I never figured it out. I don’t know that my sisters did either.  Now pop is gone.
I doubt that my sister, Nancy, ever thought that she’d place us in the same predicament that our pop had placed us.  The predicament is compounded by the fact that she herself is quite thoughtful and creative in her own gift giving.  Of course, travelling to umpteen different exotic locales might be of help in that regard.
Oh sure,  we could give her a gift card to Red Lobster or The Outback Steakhouse or some such, whereas we didn’t have much of the wherewithal to do similarly for pop. Now that I think about it I don’t think they had  gift cards then like they do now. 
But a gift card is really just like giving money,  only more limited in how you can spend it. Somehow money seems impersonal, not to mention easily quantifiable.  The recipient might not know how much you spent on say that lava lamp, whereas it is quite obvious with a check or a gift card. 
It might be helpful if Nancy would make a list for us. I find that people aren’t much into making lists, however, unless its for a wedding registry.  Knowing Nancy she’d probably do like our mom- she’d just mention goofy stuff.  Oh, I need a new potato masher or a fly swatter. Well, maybe a fly swatter is not a good example for Nancy. I don’t think they even have flies where she lives. I do know that every day is seemingly perfect there and, accordingly, I don’t think they have the  pestilences that us ordinary people have in the rest of the country.
So what did I get my sister for her birthday? Well, the same thing I got her last year.  An e-greeting and a phone call.  I like making a birthday call to Nancy because I can procrastinate for an extra two hours inasmuch as I’m in CST and she is in PST. That is unless she’s travelling in some other part of the world and then I do voice mail.