2007?!?

I'm getting old - it seems like only yesterday we actually stayed up until midnight to watch the ball drop (although even then I often wondered why.) Now, my husband went to bed early in one house while I stayed up until midnight in another as caregiver to my frail parent. It feels right, though. And good. Somehow being able to be there for my parent honors both the parent who went on before into the church triumphant and the parent left behind to slog it out in the church militant. And somehow it does, in fact, honor God.

On the other hand, it kicks the @#*@*@* out of my body. I begin to understand Isaiah 40:28-31 from the inside out. I have used "those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength" in countless funerals, celebrating God's empowering gift of the Spirit for families struggling to keep their heads above the water. I find now that the only way to stay above the water that seems to keep rising is to float on God's eagle wings.

And to laugh! Where's The Far Side when I really need it?