mood swings

Today is a strange day. I woke up to my parents phoning and telling me to be ready to go with them to Seatac so that I could drive the car back. (They're going to southern California to go to my cousin's wedding. *envy*) This way, I'll have a car to drive to the airport when I fly out to Alaska next week, and they'll have the car close by when they come back.

Very soon after I woke up I received a text message from Tyler telling me that one of their cats died. That put me in a sad mood, and I feel frustrated not being able to extend comfort. Part of me wishes that I was up in AK now, but I wouldn't be able to do more if I were. Soon enough. And really, it's egotistical of me to think that I have comforting powers. Prayer is truly the best tool at our disposal.

All this to say that my mood has been up and down all day. I start thinking happy thoughts--the sun is shining, the weather is nice, the radio is playing good songs for once--then I think again about Ty and his family and what they're going through today, and I feel sad again. But then the thought occurred to me that if I were to empathize with everyone that had something sad happen to them, I would have serious depression. Again, the word of the summer is: balance. Lots of balance. It's still very important to empathize with people who are going through rough times, and I fully intend on continuing b/c--even though I never "met" Max (the cat)--I still feel like I did know him b/c of the stories Tyler and his family told me. As weird as it might sound, I'm going to miss him.