Working, Waiting, Waving, and Weeping

I'm pretty much over the month of June.  It has been one trying month and to say the least I'm ready for July.  I don't want this post to be a whiney one, but if my few readers would use this as a guide to pray for me, my family, and a better July, that would be great.
I have spent the month of June working.  I know most people do this year round, but this is truly the first summer I have not had several weeks off, or days to sleep late that don't fall on a weekend.  I went into education with the promise of Summers off and I'm learning to adjust to not having them.  It is a bit of an adjustment, but this is the least of my struggles.
When I haven't been at work I have found myself sitting in waiting rooms with my dad.  I'm learning a lot about waiting.  One thing I've learned...I'm not good at it.  You would think pregnancy would help me in that department, but the promise of a newborn makes waiting a bit better than the waiting at the oncologist's office.  I'm learning that how you meet and talk to people in every situation is really important.  You really never know what people are struggling with, how they are struggling, and how the struggles are weighing on those that are waiting alongside them.  By summer's end I might need a sociology degree, because I have been studying people.
Moving past the working my way through summer coupled with the waiting, I have found myself waving goodbye to my brother and his wife and their precious babies.  They are moving from Jackson to Cleveland, Ohio tomorrow and I am just sad about it.  We don't see them monthly now, but at least they were a day trip away and every other month we would most likely see each other, and now that isn't the case.
And finally adding to my junkie June, my college roommate, Mary Gardiner, is slowly slipping from this world.  I spent a good portion of last night weeping.  I'm not sure if my sadness is due to regret for lack of contact in recent years or confusion over the situation of her failing health.  Last night a friend helped me make sense of my sadness, when she said that regardless of time, she played a large part in my very formative years, and she was the other side of all of the memories we made, and losing her shakes up those memories.
I will expand on all of these stories in good time, but for now I ask that you pray for them.