Mackenzie was a very special boy who brought joy to the lives of many people. The eulogy his Uncle Mark delivered was both touching and humorous and made me wish that I knew this son of my niece better while he was still among us. His sudden, untimely death on December 31 from a brain tumor was such a shock to all of us. He had been to doctors but none of them discovered the orange-sized tumor that caused his headaches, nausea, and balance problems. He simply collapsed on Dec. 30 and never regained consciousness.
A year prior to his death, Mackenzie, in a discussion with his mother, told her that if he was to die he wanted his organs donated to somebody else. The family decided to honor his wishes. In one of those cosmic coincidences, the day after the transplants were completed, our daughter discovered that the brother of one of her friends just received a kidney transplant in our city from a 12-year old boy who died of a brain tumor. It's so good to know that Mackenzie's death wasn't the end of him. As well as the organ donations, the strong faith of the family let us believe that Mackenzie's spirit lives on and we'll see him again in another place at another time.
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Tomorrow morning at 6:45 Lloyd and I leave for Surprise, Arizona where we'll relax until the end of the month. I'm taking my MacBook with me so hopefully I'll be able to upload pictures and continue blogging about our adventures in the sunny south. It's been bitterly cold (-30ish) all week up here so the thought of warm sunshine is a real treat.
