Dreaded week in April

What could be so bad about a week? Well nothing except this particular week holds some painful memories and sadness. Over the years the Hawker family has lost 3 members of the family during consecutive days this week: April 13th, April 14th, April 15th. In 2002, Brad's youngest brother Adam passed away on April 13th. In 2004, Brad's brother Jeff and his girlfriend Crystal had a baby girl (Hailey) who entered the world and passed away 9 days later during a heart surgery procedure on April 14th. In 2009, Brad's dad, Bill, passed away after a 2 year long fight against esophageal cancer on April 15th. They are terribly missed and we feel like their lifes were so sadly cut short 15 years old, 9 days old and 57 years old but instead of grieving and wallowing in the pain, we have decided to approach this week differently. We are trying not to look at the time that we lost these loved ones rather remember fun memories, fond stories and celebrate their lives! We have learned to rely on our faith and thank God for blessing us with these special lives. It is also a stab of realization that life is too short and tomorrow is promised to no one so enjoy it, tell your family you love them, laugh and don't forget what is important in life!

On a different note this week, Brad had an epidural steroid shot as his bulging disc is flaring up again. He is much too young to have that kind of pain but I guess it goes with the job including several hours of strenuous physical labor. My dad went to Rochester to get a second opinion about his skin issue from dermatologists. They did not think it was Sweet Syndrome as was initially diagnosed by Mankato and actually were not sure what it is so they didn't get too far. This just amazes me that several doctors have checked him out and they have no idea! It must be something quite rare otherwise you would think they would pin it down eventually...it has been 3 months. Anyway, they took a few more skin samples and blood but won't know anything for 2 weeks. Well that sums up this week. Not much good news but tomorrow is a new day and we'll wake up and thank God for it!