Bittersweet

We just came from the funeral home where we visited with the Beckman family upon Guy Sr.'s passing. It was exactly as it should be with believers: The family was expressing sadness, yet rejoicing over his home-going and his release from the frailties of the flesh. It was good to see many family members that we hadn't seen since Kyle's wedding and good to see a number of our friends from our former church. I chided Melissa for getting a hotel room when she could have stayed with me for free, and it would have been closer to boot.

GOODY: I finally got a telephone call from my doctor (see Saturday's Gripe). Faxing a letter helped. Not only was he apologetic about the brick wall I kept hitting, he also gave me his cell phone number. How's that for results?! Ask my family. I'm good at writing letters geared toward addressing a complaint AND, more importantly, getting the desired resolution-- hopefully without causing offense in the process. And I didn't even have to get my congressman involved.