2010

I wrote my Christmas letter. In it, I listed all the fun things we did this year, our accomplishments, our milestones. You know, the typical Christmas letter.
And yet I realize I left some things out. Yes, it was a good year. But there were hard times, too.
We had family members who lost their jobs. My grandma and Don's dad, both in their 80s, saw serious declines in their health. A friend of Scout's committed suicide. Busy and Chris lost a brother-in-law. A couple of people at our former church, both of whom played significant roles in our lives, died.
I think the hardest moment of all came a couple of months ago, when we lost a very important friend. A man who, along with his wife, carried us through the darkest days of our marriage. They had been down a similar road and knew what we were going through. They met with us, encouraged us, and prayed for us. He held Don accountable. But, for personal reasons, they didn't want anybody to know about their struggle, and we honored that secret.
It was so hard, when we heard the news at church, to keep it inside. These were people with whom we had no other connection - different age groups, different interests, different churches. There was no way to explain to anybody why we were grieving for this man. We went to his funeral and sat quietly in the back, letting his wife know how much we ached for her, and yet assuring her that we wouldn't betray their trust.
I don't really know why I'm sharing this now. I guess I just needed to be able to publicly state that we miss him very much and we feel his loss greatly.