Four Days...

...or it will be at 1:50 (official time of death) Sunday morning.

That kind of blows me away. I was in a restaurant today and I must have asked five or six times if the cashier was absolutely sure today is only the 13th.

It seems a lot longer.

People have been so kind, with flowers and condolence cards and prayers and gift cards and food - lots of food, most of it not horrifically bad for us - and help around the house.

Today I had a cousin, my mom, two aunts, an uncle, and a friend/neighbor family. Between us, we managed to tidy and organize the dining/game room, parcel Laston's clothes out to the girls or charity as appropriate (nobody in the family wants his sweats for example, but there are a number of nerdy shirts and hats the girls and I wanted), cleaned and powerwashed the porches, cleaned the gutter, fixed the refrigerator, too a bunch of canned food to places where it will get used, and cleaned the girls' rooms. And fed everyone lunch.

We took Leanna her birthday gift and went out to dinner.

Sometime later this week Leanna is going to go through some of her stuff too, because we're having a neighborhood-wide yard sale this weekend. I plan to give the three kids all the money we make from sales therefrom.

I may seem a little detached, and maybe I am, but there are two main reasons for that. One is the good offices of medication prescribed for anxiety. This is a short term solution. The other reason is actual... shock, I guess.

Is it weird to be shocked when you've had days and even months to prepare? I wasn't surprised, but I suppose I was shocked.

In an effort to process I tend to find problems I can solve. Hence the timing between going through Laston's things and the yard sale. And probably why I plan to go back to work a week from Monday when the kids are out for a week; the house will be awfully empty otherwise.

Oh... if you want a good cause to support in honor of Laston, check here. They get 4 of 4 stars from the people who rate such things.