Back to work

Dear Family and Friends,

Just back from dinner at the The Old Spaghetti Factory in Stockton,  with Nikki, Steve and Kallie, it was great food, fun conversations and an enjoyable evening.

Around here it is cold, right now its 39 outside and its promising to drop even colder during the night.  I finally let the fire go out this afternoon as it was warm enough for awhile.

This morning I called to make an appointment for a property where the owners had ask me to wait to the new year.  The owner said, can you come over now!  Well that sounded good.  What a perfect little house, new kitchen, new paint, perfect landscaping, garage was so clean you could eat there, it was fun to see such a nice place as the first one of the year.

I worked this afternoon in the office completing a property I saw in San Jose, then one that I saw here in Discovery Bay for a divorce so its been a productive day.  It is sort of hard to go back to working in a quiet house all day after having children around, spending time doing things other than work, getting in touch with life again.

I have quietly resolved that I'm going to try to get better control over the work load so I can take weekend time off and visit family and places, get the motorhome out and travel a bit.  Life needs to be more than just work in spite of the financial rewards that come when one works hard.

I'm looking forward to seeing Jerry, my brother soon.  We've been talking about visiting with each other and intend to make it happen this winter.  He is enduring some very cold weather, snow, ice and very cold temperatures.  He lives near Mt. Shasta and some days they don't see temps much above freezing all day.  Somehow the wood stove becomes a bit more important under those circumstances.

Well I'm heading to bed now, I see a place at 9 in the morning in nearby Pittsburg and then I'm back to work in the office to finally get caught up.

Jason shared with me when we talked as he was driving to Disneyland that his long time friend and fellow teacher has passed to his rest yesterday afternoon.  I am so saddened knowing what the family and especially his wonderful wife are going through in these terrible days.  Such loss, such grief, such total shock, oh that I could make it easier for them but its not that way, they must make decisions, find coping methods, go through each day though it feels like the world is unreal.  One wonders if he or she will ever laugh again, be happy again, be OK again.  Its just a terrible time to pass through and there are no short cuts.  Faith helps but faith does not take away the hurt, the loss, the devastation.  Close friends who are distant just enough to think clearly are vital right now.  Oh my heart aches for every member of the family.  One wonders why God allows such terrible things to happen, I've not heard any decent answers yet in the last 5 years for my loss of Nan.  So many silly words get spoken, there are no answers other than we live in a dangerous and evil world controlled by one who hates us, hurts us and is our enemy.  Someday soon he will be destroyed but until then we cry, we suffer and we struggle to cope.

So my thoughts, my prayers are with the family.  These are talented giving people dedicated to the cause of preparing young people for life and they have been struck a blow that will be felt for a very long time in so many lives.

God you know us all, you know how much we need your love, your peace, your direction, grant us your presence in our very hearts.

Love

tim