Thinking of Jeannie

Readers of my blog who did not already know my sister, Jean, became well acquainted with her through my posts about our trip to Europe in June.  She was great company and a wonderful traveler, and we were all glad that she went with us.   

She has a large extended family and we appreciated them letting us have her with us for two whole weeks.  Here she is up in the Swiss alps talking on her cell phone to her husband, Dave, and getting all the news from home. 

Jean is an extrovert and knows a lot of people through her family, her community, and her church.  Whenever I go somewhere with her she runs into someone she knows or she meets someone new that she'd like to know.  Even in Europe.  This picture shows her on the subway in Milan talking with two missionaries from her church with whom she immediately struck up a conversation. 

It was a shock to get a call from her today saying that she went to the E.R. last night for a racing heartbeat and was put in intensive care.  Here's the situation as she described it in an email to her family, and I love how it captures her sense of humor and her faith.  

I am in the hospital for atrial fibrillation (known as A-Fib) and certainly would appreciate your prayers, especially praying that my heartbeat can become regular by morning so I will not have to have the cardioversion procedure where they jumpstart your heart.  They say the electrical system in my heart isn't working so I asked Dave/Granddad why couldn't he fix it!  The only risk factor for A-Fib that I fall into is that I am over 60 years, but just by a few months, gosh this aging thing is not for sissies!   So, please keep me in your prayers as I have got faith in the power of prayer.  Also, feel free to pass the word along to those for who I do not have email addresses.
 
Love, Jean, Mammaw, Aunt Jean

So my thoughts have been with Jeannie all day, as have Ben and Paul's.  We went out for a walk on the C&O Canal this afternoon and enjoyed the tranquility of the Potomac River and the canal.  As Anne Frank said, "...nature brings solace in all troubles. "