I remember when the week of April 19 was a happy week. Not only did we celebrate Georgia's birthday then, we also celebrated the end of the school year. Eight months of school was all we got when I was in elementary school. That changed to nine months when I was still in Plantersville School, but I don't remember what year it was. When the Oklahoma City bombing occurred, I grieved not only for its victims, but also for my old friend whose birthday would be forever associated with that tragedy. Now, it seems, there are even more events to make this week an unhappy one.

One of those events hit close to home this week when Mike Collier was buried yesterday. He was only 63 years old, and he had fought a long and hard battle with cancer. Mike grew up in Plantersville, one of those cute Collier boys who lived next door to my friend Jean. Wasn't there an early attachment between Mike and Carole McF? Too long ago for me to remember clearly. He and brother Bobby worked for Bellsouth, both in the same work group with my husband Don. Mike transferred to Jackson shortly before I did and was one of the first people I ran into down here after I moved. My anxiety about being in a new place lessened considerably when I saw this old friend from home, smiling and reassuring me. And he was always that way, every time I saw him, one of the most polite and pleasant people I ever knew. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

Today is the anniversary of the Columbine school shootings. Already the crazy copycats are threatening to create mayhem. Thank goodness, one of them, a 28 year old mental patient in California, turned himself in. I had to turn off the TV. I don't have any control over the crazy people out there, but I do have control over whether they enter my living room and pull my spirits down.

This is the day the Lord has made, and I will do everything in my power to rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24