simply not supposed …
to happen, brain numb, God’s way
offering mercy
I gathered together today, Thanksgiving Day, 2023, with my favorite people.
Five of my grandchildren with number 6 not here but much on my mind.
One granddaughter grabbed my hand and said, “You sit by me” and I sat at the kids table and had the best time.
A day of Thanksgiving.
And I am thankful.
Thankful for my family, always skating on the thin of ice of tragedy but somehow not crashing through.
I think of my extended outer family.
A group that has seen too much of tragedy in the last couple of years for reasons unknown and unknowing.
And my heart goes out to them but there are few if any words that might be said.
In recent reading of a Garrison Keillor book his story hits on the death of his 17 year old grand son and he pauses.
A roomful of people in shock gathered for the memorial. I sat behind his brother, Charlie, and his mother, Tiffany, and his grandmother Julie. All I felt was a great heaviness, no tears, just shock. It simply wasn’t possible to imagine Freddy absent from the world. I stood up with Bob and Adam and we sang “Calling My Children Home” and sat down. We all lose our parents, but losing a child is simply not supposed to happen. The brain goes numb, God’s way of offering mercy. If we were fully cognizant, it would be unbearable.
Mr. Keillor also wrote his grandson’s obituary where he said, “… earthy journey ended much too early on Monday at the age of seventeen, leaving behind many questions as well as countless comforting memories of a gentle, sensitive soul …”
The brain goes numb.
If we were fully cognizant, it would be unbearable.
Leaving behind many questions as well as countless comforting memories.
God’s way of offering mercy.
Much to be thankful for.
No Haiku For You 