Insert Catchy Title Here

I just keep praying

Please, God, don't let anyone else I know die this year.

And maybe, all things considered, it's a selfish prayer. Because when it's your time to go, it's your time to go - simple as that. But when you look at everyone who's died this year - Grandma, Sheila's grandma, Aunt Ellen, Kelsi Cook, my mom's cousin, my mom's co-workers - it kind of hits you hard. Being the writer that I am, I'm cursed with the What If? game. I dare to fabricate hideous stories in my head of car accidents and hospital beds and other such things, even though they are the last things on Earth I want to happen.

Just one at a time, please.