Today is the third anniversary of Trevor’s untimely death. He was killed in an autombile accident sometime during the early morning hours of January 18, 2001. We continued a small tradition this afternoon. Nina inflated ten helium balloons, put an inscription on each of the balloons, and we took them outside for release. We let them go one at a time. There was a breeze blowing towards the northwest which took the balloons past our neighbor’s house and out towards the ridge of mountains in the distance. According to the internet, latex balloons will rise to equilibrium altitude of around 7,000 feet and then travel with the wind until the helium leaks out and they descend. They generally don’t burst (whereas mylar balloons almost always burst). As best as I can figure, the balloons will travel fifty miles or more before coming to the ground. That means these balloons will come down somewhere around Deckers, Colorado. Trevor would like that the balloons will come down in the mountain wilderness.

We miss Trevor immensely. His death has left a big hole in our lives that will take many years to begin to fill. I’m sure that he wasn’t thinking about any of that when he and John were driving drunk and high on that fateful night. Sometime in the next life we’ll meet again and I’m looking forward to that delightful reunion. King Theoden, King of the Rohan, in the film The Lord of the Ring, The Two Towers grieves for the loss of his son saying, "No father should have to bury his son." I understand that feeling. Our kids are supposed to bury us, not the other way around.

We actually remember two deaths at about the same time. Our daughter Traci died shortly after her emergency birth on January 15, 1974, just after we arrived in Germany. Sometime in the next life we’ll meet her for the first time and it will be a joyous meeting. Greetings, Trevor and Traci. I hope that your lives are pleasant and happy!

We’d sure like to get some winter weather! The last snow in our neighborhood was on January 2nd. A fair amount of snow has fallen in the mountains, but not nearly enough. There’s still time, however, so long as it doesn’t snow this coming weekend! I have to go to California a week from Monday. It’s been a long time since we’ve been up to Soda Springs to see mom and dad. So, we’ll try to get this all together. We’ll drive to Utah. I’ll fly out to California and come back on the following Friday. We’ll go up to Soda Springs for the weekend and then go back down to Utah. I’ll fly back out to California for two days, and then we’ll drive back to Colorado Springs. The temple is closed for two weeks, so this allows us the time to make the trip. The weather can wait until we’re finished with this trip!