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April 26, 2006 - Wednesday, 2:43 a.m.

North Dakota Again...

It�s midnight and I am propped up in a bed at a Motel in Mohall, North Dakota. It�s been a long couple of days.

Sunday night, after Ruhi, I went home and finished up my project paper for school by about 2 am Monday morning. I slept a few hours and then went into work. I knew that I was going to have to get done as much as possible as we�d be leaving for Steve�s funeral by 7:30 am Tuesday morning.

First news of the day on Monday was that the son of one of the lady�s from work (Ro) who I�ve known for a number of years drowned on Saturday. Gah!! Her two boys Dan (24 yrs) and Eli (22 yrs) were out canoeing on Skagway Reservoir. Dan�s wife, Celia and her brother were on the shore. The canoe tipped over in the lake and the boys went into the water. Now, in Colorado in April, the lakes are ice cold. They�ve been filling with snow melt from the near by mountains and the temps are still pretty low most nights. I guess as soon as they hit the water, Eli cramped and sunk down below the water surface. Dan managed to keep a hold of the canoe and float in the water. Celia and her brother on the shore tried to head out into the water to help them, but the water was too cold for them to go into. Celia ran up and down the shore screaming at them. Dan was able to see Eli below the water, but was unable to grab a hold of him. When they pulled Dan out of the lake he was blue (bordering on purple). He was conscious and told Celia that she was to stay at the lake until Eli was pulled out of the water. He was taken from the lake and in route his heart stopped. They managed to jolt his heart back to beating. When they pulled Eli out of the lake he was gone. As of Monday, Dan was doing well at the hospital. My God! That would be your worst nightmare come true for both Ro and Dan. Ro almost lost two of her sons, but still to even lose one is more then a person could bear. Dan and Eli were very close as brothers, sharing many common likes. They were good friends as well as brothers. To be so close and powerless to help will probably haunt him for a while. My heart hurt for all of them.

I finished up my paper (printing it out) by about 2 pm on Monday and Dan (my school/work buddy) turned it in for me. Whoot! I am SOOooo glad to be done with THAT! Monday night I picked up my BP meds and wash clothes. I was nearly packed by 2 am and crawled into bed.

I was up this morning at about 6 am and finished packing up my clothes. My mother called about 6 something to let me know that Maureen was ill (ear and throat infection) and that my dad would be staying home with her to make sure she could get to the doctor today. Mom picked me up just before 7 am and we were on the road (after dawn prayers at the Center) by 7:30 am. We drove straight through and arrived here at the hotel just after midnight.

The roads were good and we made good time. We visited most of the trip and I worked some on crocheting on a baby blanket.

We pondered Maqui and talked about so many other things.

As I mentioned before, Steve passed away Saturday morning. For nine weeks Kathy almost never left the hospital. She really only left to go home a take a shower most days, otherwise she was in the room at his bedside. She was fiercely opinionated about how the hospital would need to treat Steve, and my mother said it will be a long time before anyone there forgets them. Kathy was amazingly attentive. There are few people who would have stayed and slept at the hospital for nine weeks. I guess she often lay next to Steve in the hospital bed comforting him the best she could. Her devotion to him was obvious to everyone. My mother said that Kathy was sad that she was asleep when he passed away, but thankful that she�d spent most of the day lying next to him on the bed. She is truly an amazing woman. They were both very lucky to have loved someone as much as they loved each other, and I think they both realized just how lucky they were to have the time that they did.

The funeral will be at 10 am in the morning. It is going to be a tough day. There will be a lot of emotion and it is going to touch me quite a bit.

We drove north out of Dickenson to make our way to Mohall. It was a scenic route and actually very beautiful. We basically went through some of the badlands. It was dusk and then early evening as we drove and as we got into the really pretty part it grew too dark to see. We�ll go home that way in day light. I�ll get some pictures. It�s nearly one am and I need to sleep so I can face the day tomorrow.

Sweet dreams.

M.

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