A Little Light at the End of the Tunnel

Uff da.

Last Sunday feels like it was a year ago. I am both physically and emotionally exhausted, and the events that have brought me to this state include but are not limited to:

- the hospital's annual memorial service for families who have lost children

- the death of a beloved matriarch of my congregation

- my own far-away grandma undergoing surgery to remove cancer

- finding out a far-away friend battling cancer is having a terrible time with the chemo

- the death of my friend Meg's father

and

- announcing my resignation to the congregation (I am starting a PhD this fall, back at Luther)


Meg's father's funeral was today, and though I didn't really know him, I went to support Meg, Andy, and the kids. Breen, Patrick, and I kept Olivia and Jack occupied during the visitation so their parents could talk to all the people who came to share their sympathy. Regular readers of this blog know these are incredibly imaginative kiddos, so you won't be surprised to hear that I spent part of the afternoon playing "paper, rock, scissors" with a stuffed bunny. It was Olivia's bunny, and since it had no digits at the end of its paws with which to form a paper, a rock, or a scissor, she would have to tell me what item the bunny had "chosen."

Man, who knew that stuffed bunnies were so wicked smart? Hers managed to beat me 90% of the time. :) We also played several hands of imaginary "Go Fish" (imaginary because we didn't have any cards on hand). . .both Olivia and the bunny beat me 90% of the time at that, too.

But I didn't mind. Losing imaginary card games to stuffed animals is actually not such a bad way to end a very long and difficult week. . .