Fair warning:  this post is a downer.  But first let me say how blessed I am.  I was in a wreck last month and walked away with no injuries.  Seat belts are awesome.  I am grateful I wasn’t seriously injured.  (My truck and laptop weren’t so lucky.)

I miss my truck, but it definitely could have been much worse.

On the other hand, I’m sad.  I just found out my brother-in-law has prostate cancer.  His brother died from prostate cancer last December.  He lost both parents to prostate cancer and breast cancer.  He lost his first wife (my sister) to a brain tumor 20 years ago.  His 2nd wife beat breast cancer (so far.)  Sometimes it seems like God picks on certain families.  I don’t get it.  I hope it isn’t too bad.  His last daughter is getting married next week, so I’ll find out more about the prognosis.

Of course tragedy strikes everywhere, but we’ve had some unusual things happen in the neighborhood.  A neighbor commit suicide soon after moving in.  A woman was struck and killed by lightning on Easter Sunday a few years ago.  A woman in our ward (first time mother) gave birth to twins.  The family posted a photo showing her smiling with her babies, and then she bled to death, in the hospital!  To top it all off, another neighbor, after having gone through a year or so round of chemo and radiation for ovarian cancer, was just told the tumors have returned and they have no treatment options left.

I don’t blame God.  Bad things happen to everyone, and I don’t believe that God is killing people with cancer.  It’s part of life.  But it sucks.  A friend of mine said,

Maybe you want to yell what Tevye said in Fiddler on the Foof: “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?”