Gainesville Daily Register: News Column

So I went to this funeral today. It was weird. Miss Crystal Dawn Pinkston and her sweet daughter Cierra were among the first people I met when I moved here. I knew from the second I met her that she was a nut, but she was so FUN. I hadn't talked to her in quite some time, years actually...but I kept up with her through Mandy. But after my last job, I knew how seriously crazy she was. But never in my wildest nightmares could I have ever imagined this.

At her funeral they played a tape of her daughter and 2 little sisters singing a song about Jesus. It was so surreal. Just last Tuesday Mandy called and was freaking out because of the Amber Alert when Crystal took Cierra from Southmont Baptist's daycare and today I was at her funeral at Southmont Baptist.

I made an important discovery. Throughout the service the preacher talked about how Jesus had a special place in his heart for the ill, including the mentally ill. I had never looked at it like that. But it's true. And it's comforting to me.

It is also very strange to me that I have know 2 sets of people that have lost lives in hostage negotiations in the last 4 months. I think I am going to lay off the CSI for awhile, I've got too much in reality.