Sad News Monday

 So as the news junkie I am, I typically hear soon about the latest local tragedies. Sure enough, I read about a murder-suicide out near Country Walk on Sunday -- young 40s couple, well liked by neighbors, leaving 2 small kids. They had Hispanic sounding names, and so I assumed I had no connection with these star crossed people, until I did...

Rabbi Yossi emailed all of us to announce the sad news -- they were Jews and members of Chabad. The announcement was that there funeral today, at the same cemetery where Wifey and I bought plots. What??? Murder suicides among Kendall Chabadniks? That wasn't on my radar.

I'm sure I'll learn more details, and whether I had met them. I assume I had -- maybe know the parents. For now, I just ask the Big Man to bring peace and healing to this tragedy affected family.

Then I got a call from an old professor friend. I had reached out via email Saturday, reminding him we hadn't talked in a long time. He wrote back that he would call -- he would explain why. I assumed maybe he needed legal advice. Then I learned why a call and no email -- he was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's Disease.

Oh boy. This is a brilliant scholar who published multiple books, and had a long and stellar career in academics, both teaching and administration. I thought right away about "Tuesdays With Morrie," but Mitch Albom's beloved professor was physically declining -- not cognitively so.

I know treatments for the Big A have gotten better recently, and I hope this is my old friend's experience. Still, it came as a shock.

In happier news, D2 is headed over with enormous puppy Betsy, to hang here for the day. She has a rare not much planned day, and so we'll walk Betsy, maybe run into her old friend Jagger, and go for lunch at possibly First Watch, a small chain place I know D2 will approve of, food snob as she is since her sabbatical in NYC.

When she was a kid, a day with Dad was typically going with me to Home Depot, agreed to by a bribe for later stops at Toys R Us and Dairy Queen. I don't think these enticements work anymore. Plus, Toys R Us is now a huge Chevy dealership.

Last night we got a surprise visitor -- Lauren -- Wifey's BFF's daughter. She was in town for Art Basel, and visiting a friend nearby -- she had some time before her late flight, did we want company? Of course we did, and since she was Ubering, that meant some drinks. She had red wine and I had Tito's, and Wifey made her a bagel with chicken salad sandwich.

I reminded I met her when she was one, at the Fountainbleau Hotel -- her Dad had a chiropractor conference there, and I made her laugh with animal noises. She said at 42, she still laughs at animal noises.

Her cell was dead, and so I called her Uber with mine, and confirmed he had made it to MIA with time to spare.

So goes life. Ups, downs, what have yous?

Tomorrow we see Stevie Nicks -- guessing the audience will have a shortage of fecund fans. Stevie is 78 and still singing. We should all be so lucky.