This morning, I barely miss getting my cell phone out to answer a call. It was one of my brothers in Virginia. How unusual for him to call - this can't be good. You know that feeling when you start to feel your chest tighten?

"It's dad." He's in the hospital. He was moved from the nursing home to the hospital last night. He has a kidney infection, pneumonia and congestive heart failure. He's getting medicine to combat all three conditions and he's comfortable now. He's sleeping and he'll get good care.

Dad's going to recover. He's going to go back to the nursing home. I'll go back to Virginia to visit, again.

But, one day, one of my siblings is going to call and dad will be gone. I think it will be this kind of combination of ailments. These are all his weakest links.

"What room is he in?"
"1097"
"Does he have a phone?"
"Yes, but he isn't talking very well. He's stuttering and having a hard time putting his thoughts together. He's best with 'yes' and 'no' questions. He doesn't look good."

I'm going to call him soon to talk. He may not be able to produce a lot of complex sentences right now, but I think he will appreciate getting a call.

Life is complicated and short.

I was talking to a small group of parents the other day. A mother of elementary school aged children said that she "stranger tests" her kids. When a friend is coming over who the kids have not met, she asks the friend to try to get the kids to come over to his/her car. Any child who goes over to the car fails the stranger test and doesn't get to go outside to play for a week.

Now, I can imagine all sorts of scenarios, like the kid saying, "Hey mom, remember when I told you this creepy guy tried to get me to come over and get in his car? Well, that's HIM - the guy in the living room!"

Kinda weird.

Okay, I've heard of things like this happening to other people, but I've never experienced this myself.

I have a yahoo account. I've had it for about 8 or 9 years. But, today, yahoo says I don't exist. Not only is my password invalid, my ID is no longer recognized. To yahoo, suddenly, I don't exist.

Funny thing is, all of the yahoo groups I'm on still are sending emails to my "alternative" account, like they're set up to do.

Does anyone else know about this happening to anyone else and if so, how to proceed?