It started out as just another day driving a school bus for Ponderosa Elementary. By that night, Kevin McKay would be hailed as "the bus driver from heaven."
In between, the most deadly wildfire in California's history exploded.
On the morning of November 8, McKay had just dropped off his students when he saw the smoke. Ten minutes later, the evacuation order. Ultimately - and quickly - nearly the entire community would be consumed by flames.
Our boys wore clothes with labels way outside my budget. Because of the generosity of a local doctor and his wife. He had first been a major medical blessing to us with the excellent care he provided. Then he and his wife blew us away with these bags full of cool clothes that their boys had outgrown.
There was a special connection that led to us being dinner guests in each other's home. I don't remember the dinner at their house, but I'll never forget the conversation.
They may never know how many died when the tsunami swept over the city of Palu in Indonesia last week. So many were just swept out to sea.
The videos are absolutely heart-wrenching. Those people were gone before they even knew what hit them.
I can walk faster than Hurricane Florence moved at times. Two miles an hour!I can walk faster than Hurricane Florence moved at times. Two miles an hour!
Some hurricanes roar in for a brief but destructive visit. Not Florence. She crawled through the Carolinas, overwhelming historic rainfall totals. And caused flooding where floods have never gone before. The storm is gone. The floods are still coming. Leaving shattered lives we need to care about long after the cameras have moved on.
Senator John McCain said it pretty well not long before his passing: "The world is in greater turmoil than at any time in my lifetime."
No matter where you live in the world, you're feeling that "the times, they are a'changin'." There's a lot that's broken. And problems so complex that every solution seems to create another problem.
Some days I feel like I need to take a shower after watching the news. Too often the headlines are just plain sordid and disgusting.
I'm not much a hot pepper man. When it comes to spicy foods, I am a confessed culinary wimp. Not so, my friend David. He loves four-alarm peppers!
It was just a grassless patch of dirt in our backyard. How could I know what it meant to my son? Until he wanted to go see it with me one more time before we sold our home of 25 years.
It's such a sensitive subject. Especially if it's affected you or someone you love - as it has me. That's why I hesitated writing my heart today.
But I had to - because of the growing dark cloud of suicide in the news and in our country. Not as a therapist or expert. But as someone who still grieves for friends who were suddenly gone - by their own hand. And someone who has hugged and held the shattered loved ones left behind. As well as a guy who has faced deep heartache and found hope to stay afloat.
Mine is in my shoulder, from replacement surgery. Our grandson's is in his chest from heart surgery.
Country singer, Carrie Underwood's was on her face from a bad fall and 40 stitches.
But most of ours are deep inside, where no one can see them.
