My dear friend JoAnne came with her husband and two of her kids to spend the week-end. We always have a special time together. JoAnne was in our wedding 30 years ago and she and I have been friends since we were kids. Our kids don’t know what to do with us when we are together because we laugh and laugh and laugh. We laugh about stupid stuff that they don’t get. We laugh about ordinary stuff. We even laugh about celery!! How something so boring as celery could provide humor for months and months, who knows….but that’s just how we are when we are together.

When we were kids we would ride our bikes everywhere. And there were times we would get to laughing so hard we couldn’t see to keep steering. So we would pull our bikes over and sit on the grass and laugh till we peed our pants.

JoAnne actually dated one of my brothers for a long, long time. And for years we really thought that we would be sister-in-laws!

Jo has been very concerned for our Tyler. She texts me regularly to see if we have heard from him. She prays constantly for his safety.

Early Mother’s Day morning at 2:30AM Graham came bolting up the stairs and into our bedroom. I was more asleep than awake but jumped up to see what was going on. Graham said, “Someone has come down our driveway and they are walking up to the front door. My mind raced. Dw was down the stairs and at the door in probably 20 seconds. I was coming down the stairs as he looked out the front door window. He said, “Linn, it’s the police.” At that point nothing but a sick feeling filled our bodies. I know they are not paying a courtesy call or fundraising at 2:30 in the morning!

I do know that if anything were to happen to Tyler they always send military personnel to the home. BUT how many times in life has the ALWAYS not been ALWAYS?

Dw opened up the door just as I stood beside him. Jo had been awakened and was standing behind me in her nightgown too. The police man looked at me and said the name of the lady we bought our house from. I told them that I was not her and then I said, “Our son is currently deployed” and I broke down and started to cry to which the officer began to profusely apologize.

They were looking for the former “lady of the house” as her husband was reported missing in the mountains of AZ. They wondered if we knew about their children. My mind was reeling as I was trying to wrap my whirling brain around their visit and Tyler being deployed and it was 2:30Am and so I wasn’t much help about remembering anything of significance about the former owner’s children. The officer continued to apologize and I cried and Jo hugged me and Dw talked to the police for a bit. Weird night. Thankful that Jo was there too. Great friends share stressful moments and that was definitely one of them for us.