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On Friday, I found out a longtime member of our church passed away. I was expecting it--Mr. M had been in the hospital for several weeks fighting an infection, and he was 86 and already in somewhat poor health--but it was still sad to hear. His daughter is just a year or so younger than me; we're casual friends. When we first started attending our church, they had a bus ministry. Every Tuesday night and Saturday morning, Dad and Mr. M would work on the fleet of busses together. Dad often says it was the happiest he'd ever been during his time at our church. I'd just been thinking the other day about the few of us left at my church who've been there since its earliest days (it was founded in 1964; they moved into the current building in 1970). Mr. M's wife and daughter had been attending since around the same time my mom, siblings and me started attending (1970); both dads joined later, mere months apart. Now we're down to just two "senior saints" from the early days of our church: Dad and Mr. H. Mr. M's daughter, my good church friend and I are, I believe, the only "youngsters" from the old days still attending regularly. Dad and I are sad but glad Mr. M is out of pain and with his Heavenly Father (and his wife, who died decades ago).

Friday, I had lunch with bff, two mutual friends and a surprise guest: another mutual friend (and bff's college roommate) who was in town dropping her daughter off at a local college. She knew we were meeting for lunch but didn't say anything about coming because she wasn't sure she could join us. She's also been helping her very elderly mother do some work around her mom's house. I was thrilled to see "J" but was sorry to hear J's very controlling, manipulative brother and his grown son are moving from California and taking up residence in J's mom's basement. It's less a case of wanting to help mom out or keep an eye on her health-wise and more, J firmly believes, a chance to help themselves to mom's bank account. I had no idea her brother was kind of a slimeball; I'd only met him once, very briefly, at J's wedding. J was in tears (and she NEVER cries) telling us how much she loves her brother but how she feels this is going to be very detrimental to their mom, and as J lives in NY, she's not around much to mediate.

Then Saturday I stopped in at the Giant Eagle in my town and ran into a former co-worker that I'm still friends with. She's worked at the GE in town for over 20 years; I'd not seen her in a while and assumed she went through with her plan to quit and start selling jewelry from her home (I think she was looking into selling Paparazzi items). Turns out she's still working at GE...but she recently had to sell her home nearby and move back in with her mom. She didn't give me a reason but she mentioned being deeply in debt. I didn't push because my friend is SUPER upset about having to sell her house and move in with her mom, with whom she has a contentious relationship, and she's very, very clearly depressed and anxious.

And then Saturday night, I was unable to turn off the hot water from our kitchen sink. Dad managed to do so but now we're going to have to replace the whole faucet...thing (Dad and I got into a bit of a heated discussion this morning about the working parts of a sink) but until then, I'm washing dishes in the garage...where the utility sink has hot water but no handle for the cold water.

And then on Sunday, my good church friend couldn't attend because she has a bad cold. I appreciate her staying home and not getting others sick but as I missed last Sunday due to work, I was hoping to talk to her this Sunday.

And then late last night, bff texted to say she tripped over the apparatus holding her dog's food and water bowl and broke a bone in her foot. Luckily it's just a hairline fracture, and she has an ancient walking boot at home that she used the last time she broke a bone in her foot but still, walking is going to be painful for her for a bit.