Mom was pretty lonely after Dad died ten years ago, so after a while, we started a routine of calling her every Sunday evening at 8:00. She was usually sitting by the phone, waiting for that call.
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How do I begin to describe the past ten days? When you lose a loved one, everything about your normal life stops, even as the rest of the world keeps spinning around you.
On Thursday, April 10, my dear mother-in-law, Joyce, went to be with Jesus.
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What’s worse? Picking a paint color or choosing a subtitle?
I struggle with paint colors. But I’ve discovered that choosing a subtitle is worse by far. Who knew?
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Like daffodil and tulip bulbs that sleep quietly underground for a season, there’s a special project that I’ve been keeping under wraps. Unlike flower bulbs which pop up after a few months in hiding, this project—once just a dream—took root over six years ago. And it’s finally ready to bloom!
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Each person we encounter possesses a life and past we cannot see at first glance. They carry pain and sadness, worry and stress. Hopefully, they also carry love, joy, and some happiness. But how can we know? We can’t walk in their shoes.
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It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway): there’s much turmoil, change, and upheaval in our world these days. And it’s hard. I managed to distract myself with some sister time and a mother-daughter visit over the past week, but whenever I turned on the news, I was hit with harsh reality again.
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After a busy “hump day” at work, I hustle off to church with my family for one of the most somber days on the church calendar—Ash Wednesday. As if our never-ending Midwest winter isn’t depressing enough, the church summons us to a mid-week service reminding us of our mortality in ten words.
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I did something this week that I haven’t done in a long time. I spent the week as a total and complete homebody. For six days, I didn’t leave the house. Not even to get the mail. No, I wasn’t sick or laid up after hip surgery (like last year). I simply had nowhere to go.
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We were all tired after the fireworks, so we returned to the hotel and were in bed by 1:00 a.m. We slept well, oblivious to the horror happening just blocks away.
When I woke the next morning, I reached for my phone, as I often do. I checked for texts, then opened my email and immediately saw a “breaking news” story from the New York Times that made me gasp.
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On the final day of 2024, after a lazy morning, we sauntered out into the warmth of the Louisiana sunshine. In Jackson Square, we again took in the sounds of street musicians and the work of artists lining the square. First on the agenda: a beignet breakfast.
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We bore witness to tragedy. We also bore witness to love and joy, security and celebration. As with all of life, the beautiful and the terrible coexist. Light and darkness blend at dawn and dusk. The sweetness of sugar and the bitterness of coffee together awaken our senses.
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