I question God sometimes, and this is one of those times. I doubt he knew what he was getting into when he called Joan home. I picture Joan standing at the Pearly Gates saying, “OK, God, I’ve put these post-it notes on the gate with a checklist of things to do to make this process work better.”

Because that’s what Joan does—she makes things better.

I remember when Lisa was down the Cape on vacation with her family. She was in excruciating pain that her own dentist couldn’t fix. Joan marched right on down to the Cape, saying to Lisa, “Come on, I made an emergency appointment with my dentist and I’m bringing you there now.”