April 5th - Sad Day RIP Barbara Tope Earle

I was in the office doing my computer stuff, checking FB to be specific, and I discovered that Barbara Tope Earle had passed away yesterday.  What a surprise and how my heart just dropped.  I was set to visit her on Monday and now I will be attending her funeral.

Our families became close friends when I was 5 years old.  Barb was just a month older than I.  Our families did everything together - more like cousins than just friends.  We camped together, went on picnics, went to each others homes almost every week.  We celebrated birthdays, and other big events, together.  There is almost not a memory of my childhood that does not involve them in some way. 

Barb and I were also classmates - well, at least once we were in junior high and high school.  Before that she attended country school.  So all of our teenage memories are also intertwined.  For our last class reunion, Paula and I picked her up, even though it was a couple of hours out of the way, because she couldn't drive.  Last fall, I went by  her home and we went out to lunch.  That was our plan again for Monday, if she was up to it.

She has had congestive heart failure for some time and was growing weaker.  She was on oxygen now, so I knew she was not doing well.  I just didn't expect this to happen before my visit! 

Dad and I went out for a late breakfast and then just hung around the airport for awhile.  They had three students going in to get licenses today, so there was a lot of interest.  The results were: the first student, an older man, failed the orals; the second going for instructor's license passed; and the third, the scholarship student, passed her flight test (she had already passed the orals.)  So, two out of three is good.

Around 3:30, I took off for Billy's.  It is a little less than two hours to Des Moines, so I got there just before he got home from work.  We went out for Thai food for dinner - very good!  Then we just sat around watching TV and talking.  It was a good evening with him.

So I have run the range of emotions today.