I spent yesterday enjoying a kid-free 7 hours with a good friend happily scrapping away and trying to get caught up on 4+ years of pictures that needed to be added to the family scrapbook.  I purposefully left my phone in the car...to avoid interruptions from the kids (or hubby who was on daddy-duty).  As I returned home yesterday evening at about 5, I found that my cell had numerous missed calls, as well as a few at home from a close circle of friends from preschool. 

I thought, well, something MUST be up...everyone of my friends knows that I was going to be out of touch and devoting time to scrapping today.  So, I called the last caller on the phone - since her call sounded most urgent.  She called me back to let me know that a good friend, who was 39 years old and had a son the age of my oldest, had passed away suddenly Tuesday morning.  At first, I had to ask her to repeat it....surely I had misunderstood her.  Not the person I respected as a mother, businesswoman, friend and most impressive organizer I have ever met.  Sure enough, I had heard right, and the friend I met as I began preschool with my oldest son, who is the same age as her youngest son - had passed away. 

Kelly was a wonderful person, always had a pleasant smile and loved to laugh.  She lived for her family and friends....always giving of herself tirelessly.  Kelly served as president for the prescool for 3 years.  She was in charge of fundraising, and many other committees that kept the school going.  She was great at everything she did, it seemed.  She was the ideal mom that always seemed to have it all together - but, she was the first to admit that she was battling with the same things we all were. 

I suppose that I accept the fact that older people live and pass away a little easier.  I have finally been able to talk about my grandmother's death without crying...that's been almost a year now.  But, there is something that is so much more difficult to understand and accept when someone within a few years of your age dies suddenly - especially since our kids are near the same age.  It's times like this you just wonder why someone so wonderful had to go so soon?  It also makes you realize that life is precious and we never know when or how we will meet our maker.

In memory of Kelly Haines.