My uncle, the only courteous one, rang today. His daughter, my cousin Myra Lynn (wait, she wants to be called Myra only now, I keep forgetting, why can't I remember that?!) had her third baby today. It was born without one of its hands.

I'm all rather numb right about now. This was wholly unexpected. Her two other kids are perfectly healthy. I know that doesn't guarantee any following kids would be, but still...

I can't imagine how she must feel; worse, I can't imagine how the kid will feel, growing up with only one hand. I use my hands when I ride, when I play the piano or guitar, when I type and write, and more. Some of those are impossible, or at least phenomenally difficult, to accomplish one-handedly.

Intellectually, I can appreciate that this is not the worst possible scenario. It's not cancer, or lack of a brain stem, or autism, or any other fatal or mind-staggeringly crippling problem. The baby's healthy otherwise. He'll probably grow up and not even know what he's missing. But it's still so horrible.

I feel bad for Myra and Bo (her husband). Kalyn and Landon are their other kids, and they're both perfectly healthy.

It's just a sucky thing to happen.