Tough Winter

While the weather has been fairly mild here,

the climate has been more than a little sad this winter. 

Last month, I lost one of my elderly clients, 

a man I had seen, in his home weekly,

for the last year. 

While I knew Karl was not well,

I wasn't aware he was slowly leaving. 

In the last few weeks, 

a family member has undergone, not just chemo

but also the process of a bone marrow/stem cell transplant for blood cancer. 

And now, two young, beautiful souls,

a friend's 17 year old boy

and friend's of friends 18 year old son,

were whisked out to sea in an instant and drowned

while their friends tried to help them 

and could do nothing but helplessly watch it happen. 

Our community, and our teenagers, are reeling. 

One of the boy's uncles said to the throngs of high school students at his memorial service,

"Children are a parent's message to the future.

What I want you to do, right now today,

 is absorb as much of this as you possibly can

from what you hear today.

Figure out, really focus on, what that message to the future was in him

 and carry that message forward." 

Of the many beautiful, touching, heart-wrenching things I heard that day,

this was one of the most powerful.

Please say a prayer for these families

struggling with an incomprehensible loss. 

And for our family member

working to build back healthy cells after chemical destruction. 

And me, besides these prayers,

 I'm also praying for spring

and the promise of life 

to bring hope and beauty to winter's sadness.