What A Year! And It's Only 3/4 Over!

I have been thinking a lot about all the things that have happened over the course of this year so far.
It's been a doozy for me already. 
The bad things:  Our cat died, my husband had to spend a week in the heart hospital, two tornadoes came through our little city, my nephew died, and just yesterday, a friend and coworker who had been battling cancer passed away. That's a lot to deal with in about nine months' time.
The good things: Matt and I have both changed our diet and our habits, and are both losing weight and getting healthier,  I have made some awesome new friends online, my niece welcomed a daughter, so now I have a tiny little grand-niece, our church has a new roof and consequently, better acoustics, my voice lessons are going really well, and I feel better about life than I have for awhile.

Lots of things are coming up, a trip for a weekend away with my hubby, a chance to meet someone I admire, a trip to my Mom's to help my sister do yard work, the library system's Staff Day, Red Ribbon Day here in Moore, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, all that fun stuff.
I just hope the rest of the year has more of the fun stuff and less of the sad stuff. 
I miss my cat, my friends lost their house in that tornado, I miss my nephew, and I will always miss Melodie.  A sweeter, more Christian person you would never meet.  Everybody loved her, and quite literally, the whole town will miss her.  Patrons ask about her, how she's been, since she became ill.  They will be heartbroken to know she is gone.  She fought for so long, and she fought so hard to hold on to life.  She made all of us appreciate life so much more.  She did everything with love, and I am very, very lucky to have known her, and to have her as one of the people who trained me at my job.
I only hope her calm, loving presence finds my nephew in that life beyond this, and that she lets him know how much we all love him and miss him.
I hope my crazy cat finds my nephew and gets in his lap and refuses to let him up, like she used to do us.  I hope my sweet dog Bear finds Melodie and loves on her for us.  Bear met Melodie a few times, and he was always up to love and be loved on by her.
I hope as life goes on at the library that we all live a little more by Melodie's example:  her calm, her patience, her smile.  She was a truly selfless person, always more concerned about others and their needs than her own.  
This world is a poorer place without her. 
There are so many potentially really good things on the horizon, I hope they turn out as well as they promise to.  This town (and I) could use some happy endings right about now.

This was Melodie on our Pirate Day at the library about four years ago.  We will always miss that smile!