It seems like such an innocuous day, the third day of January. Everyone's busy recuperating from the Christmas Celebrations and New Year's Revelry. I think most people have taken down their decorations and breathed a sigh of relief to have less clutter in the house. (We're doing that job tomorrow.) We're barely into the new year, and the vast majority of folks who have made a resolution or two are having trouble sticking to the plan. I'm squeaking in at the end of the day, getting a bit of writing done, listening to the Word of God. I would have gotten to this sooner, but I did mountains of laundry today, plus replaced the baking supplies and utensils back into the drawers that needed to be emptied so my hubby could install new plugs into our new island. After making supper and calling the family to get their food ( we don't have a kitchen table yet, so we grab food and eat all over the house) the kids convinced me to watch an episode or two of Season Three of "Call the Midwife". I was already feeling a bit blue, knowing that today was the day of a funeral of someone we loved and admired. Add to that sadness the memory that today was also the day that my dear old Pops died. Pops was my mom's dad, a grand old Newfie who had a great sense of humour and many wonderful stories to tell. He died January the Third, 1987. I still miss him. So I got to thinking about life and death, about the pain and the loss that never goes away when you lose a parent, a child, a friend. I've lost grandparents, parents, inlaws, relatives and friends. I've grieved the loss of babies to miscarriage - my own and my grandchildren. I've gone into stores after the death of my parents and wondered how everything could seem so NORMAL... the cashiers were still scanning the produce, the shoppers were still pushing carts like nothing was wrong, and yet my world had fallen apart. How could life just go on? We watched Episode Four of "Call the Midwife" Series 3, and saw a terrible accident that led to the death of a loved one (I'm purposely being vague in case anyone hasn't seen the episode) and my heart was wrenched at these words of wisdom in how to deal with this sort of loss: You keep on living until you feel alive. That's it. That's how to do it. You keep putting one foot in front of the other. You keep brushing your teeth, taking a shower, making your bed. You keep pouring a steaming hot mug of coffee, adding cream and a dash of vanilla, in hope that some day it might taste good again. You just keep on living, until you feel alive. I think this advice applies to all sorts of pain and loss. Don't let it throw you. Grieve, cry, sorrow, pray, talk, sleep... do what you have to do for a time. Then get back to living.
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January 2020
AuthorJanet Matthews Roth loves words. Categories |