I've been busy, happy and very sad...it's been a rough March so far.

March, historically, has never been a great month in our family. 2006 is bearing out to be no different. Actually, in the beginning, March seemed to be a really great month....we were blessed with many births in the month of March in our family and for some reason we continue to be. But, as time marches on, March wears the black cloak of death. Not the easy, casual, acquaintance type of deaths. But the earth shattering, soul ripping, heart wrenching, type of deaths that leave you lost and bleeding on the ground wondering if you can ever get up and move your feet the same again.

March. Sucks. Hold onto that thought for a minute, because to start at the end of the chonicle of the days would be weird. So I have to go back to the beginning of the month to catch you up.

March arrives always comes in like a lamb and roars out like a lion. I suppose it's all the momentum it builds up along the way. This March started quietly. Too quietly. Laying in wait, holding her breath, know what was coming. March 2nd found me on a airplane flying to San Antonio, TX to attend my nieces graduation from the Air Force basic training Acadamy at Lackland AFB. Did I plan this trip? Nope. I bought my ticket March 1st and stayed through Sunday. Met up with my sister and her husband, got really tired, took a quick look at a couple things I hadn't seen before (Riverwalk, Alamo) and flew home. I was tired.

Upon my arrival home, my spinning wheel on Monday!!! Wheee!!! I was SO happy! We had to immediately get her put together and spinning. I am totally in love with her and am very please with my decision to get the Fricke brand.

Then, as days pass the phone rings on the very early morning hours of my birthday. It was my dearest friend ever. The one who has always been a part of my life since my child was 6 months old. Our kids grew up together. We used to do literally EVERTHING together, played, worked, prayed. Her husband, she says.....is dying. And true to her words less than 18 hrs later he was.

He was like my brother. The brother that my own brother never was, never will be, nor can be. Nobody can say a cross word about him. He was one of the good guys. He was his wife's best friend for 26 years. He was his son's best dad for everything. Jeff was also my fellow brother officer. He had a fallen officer's funeral. They buried him with full honors.

I have only lost a very dear friend. My dear friend has lost her life partner, her best friend, her rock, her comfort, her soft place to fall. She is so lost. So confused.

That is just the 2006 reason why the month of March sucks.