Yesterday, like many Americans, I woke to the horrible news of another mass shooting, this time at an outdoor country music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada.  At least 59 people were dead, more than 500 were injured.  The number of guns and amount of ammunition this 64-year-old shooter had in his hotel room and home is utterly astounding.  And the current speculation is that he used a semiautomatic rifle that had been illegally, of course, converted to a fully automatic rifle so that he could shoot almost continuously for 4 and 1/2 minutes from a 32nd floor hotel room down into a crowd of people gathered across the street.  This is madness…

The morning news pretty much ran into the noon news with the story run again and again.  There are some bright spots.  We’ve heard amazing stories about the Las Vegas first responders and ordinary people in the crowd who helped and protected each other amid the chaos and fear Sunday night.  So many people lined up to give blood that some had to be turned away.

I then got a message from a former neighbor asking if it was true that one of our friends had died over the weekend.  I hadn’t been home much so I was totally shocked to check messages on Facebook and find it was true!  My lovely neighbor, Sue Smith, whose family moved into their home across the street the same summer that we moved into this house 25 years ago, died suddenly from a brain aneurysm this weekend.  Sue worked in the school district as a special needs aide, planted gorgeous flowers in her yard and took care of my dogs many times when I went on vacation over the years.  She was truly the glue that held her family together and my heart is breaking for them.

Then I heard that my brother’s sister-in-law, whom I knew was on a river cruise in Europe with her husband, developed a brain bleed and is hospitalized in Switzerland!  If doctors agree to allow her to return to the States for treatment, she will need to be on an air ambulance from Zürich to Chicago and in an ambulance to a hospital here.  My sister- in-law is understandably worried sick about her sister, Lynn, having to make that flight.  I’m humbly asking for your prayers and good thoughts for the coming weeks.

And if all that wasn’t enough awful news, singer Tom Petty suffered a massive cardiac episode and was removed from life support Monday afternoon.  He did not make it through the night.

I really am grateful for all wonderful people and things in my life.  But Monday was a truly sucky day.  I’m going to my happy place, even if it’s just in my mind…