Had a house full of people yesterday. A friend from church, then Michael's sister, Wanda. Wanda picked up the kids for a little while because she knew it'd be hard, us being all upset, and trying to chase kiddies, so she took them to Walmart, then to her house to play for awhile, then after she picked up her two kids from school, she brought the kiddies back, along with her two kids. Then while they were here, Michael's other sister, Terri, came over. Wanda and her kids left, then me & Terri took Travis up and down the sidewalk in his red wagon, and talked. Terri then left to go do schoolwork. And all day long, Michael couldn't sit still, and he kept going out to just drive around, deal, and stop by some old friends' houses to let as many people that he went to school with know about what had happened. So while he's gone, I'm sitting here alone, not knowing what to think or do. Michael went to church last night, and while he was gone, my nephew, Daniel came by to see Michael since Daniel had lost a friend the very same way 2 years ago. Michael has never lost anyone like this before, so it's kind of hard to know what to do or say around him right now, and I suppose it will be that way for awhile. Daniel and I ended up having an hour-long heart-to-heart about a lot of important stuff. That was the first time I'd ever really heard Daniel open up like that. So Daniel left and told me to have Michael call him when Michael got home and he'd come back by here then. So Michael gets home from church, brings me some supper, then Daniel comes back over and we all just sat on the couch and talked and talked and talked about death and how Sam is in a better place now and we should just be happy for him, not sad for him. Sad for his family, yeah, but not for Sam. Then our Pastor, Bro. Greg, came over and another guy from church (all the while I'm sitting here in my PJ's and a sink full of dishes...I hadn't even gotten out of my PJ's from the night before and had not felt like doing ANYTHING around the house yesterday). They probably stayed until 11:30 last night, and we just talked about everything. We laughed, we cried, we sat in long periods of silence just trying to fathom that any of this had actually taken place. And there was a note, and Bro. Greg had a copy of it. He was reading bits and pieces of it, and then Michael started reading it. I wanted to read it, but at the same time I didn't want to read it. All I really know is that apparently, his wife had told him that she hated his guts, and he also wrote in the note some instructions to a cousin on her side of the family, I think, to go after the guy she was cheating with so that "he won't destroy another family again." What is amazing to me is that Sam even said in the letter that he didn't want anyone to be mean to Crissy; he said to forgive her. He wants her to get back in church and straighten her life out. I have been hearing so many comments about Crissy over the past 24 hours, and it's just awful. I understand people are angry and sad and hurt, but Crissy is dealing with a loss, too. I know that deep down, she did love him. There have been two times in our marriage that I've been so mad at Michael I *thought* I hated him, but I was shooting off at the mouth and didn't really mean it. That family, especially their 2 babies, need a lot of prayer right now, and that's about all I can say.

Now to lighten the mood....:::breathes a sigh of relief:::....

I think me & Michael have decided what Tiger basketball road games we're going to try to go to:

Saturday, December 6 - Ole Miss (IF you want to even count that as a road trip).

Saturday, January 10 - Southern Miss (went there last year, too...we LOSE EVERY TIME we play them THERE, so we're hoping for a win this time on their court. But look on the bright side, even if we lose to them THERE, we always whoop 'em in the TOMB OF DOOM.)

Saturday, February 28 - Louisville (figured we better make a trip up there before Louisville leaves C-USA)

...and as an added bonus, we are going to save our pennies and go to the C-USA Tournament in Cincinatti, March 10 - 13.
Last year, Ole Miss played here, but we went to Southern Miss and Michael went to UAB, so we're adding a few more trips to *our* basketball schedule this year. I guess for the rest of them, we'll order pizza and sit in front of the TV and have a myochardial infarction the last 60 seconds of the game. I CAN'T WAIT!!!