A day of beauty ….

. . . .followed by an evening of shock and sadness.

(Wednesday January 29)

With temperatures on the rise, we had decided to drive over to Hocking Hills for the day, to see all the ice formations and frozen waterfalls before they start melting. It was a beautiful sunny day, with temperatures rising above freezing. We visited Old Man’s cave, Cedar Falls, Ash cave and Conkles Hollow. We took our hiking poles and our nano spikes which were necessary muck of the time, as down in the gorges, the paths were still icy in places. As we were admiring the stunning beauty, however, our minds were also with my brother Peter who was undergoing heart surgery today to replace a leaking aortic valve in Sheffield in England. As the afternoon wore on, we started to become concerned that we hadn’t had an update from his wife Judy. About 6 pm our time as we were starting to drive home, she finally called, but not with the news we were hoping for. She had been called in to the hospital as there were complications and he was still in surgery - this being 11 pm English time. She was there with Ian, one of Peter’s sons from his first marriage, and also a good friend of hers who is also a minister. We drove home, praying all the way that he would come through this. However, when she called back at about 9 pm our time, it was with the devastating news that he had passed away! We just couldn’t believe it - Peter and Judy had sounded quite confident on the phone, and the surgeon was a well respected expert in his field, who had also been confident of the outcome. So this came as a dreadful unexpected blow to us all, and I couldn’t and still can’t get my head around the fact I won’t see him or hear his voice again. And for Judy, this is the second husband she has had to say goodbye to, as her first husband died from an aggressive form of cancer. By this time it was about 2 am her time, and she was exhausted and then had to go home - clear the other side of Sheffield - to their house, with Peters things all over the place.
Peter - we’re going to miss you so much . . .