Fallinter

While we have been enjoying the colors of fall, we were graced with over 10" of snow in the last twenty four hours.  We ended up being without power or heat for 16 hours.  Despite the cool weather, I loved seeing fall colors poke out behind tufts of white snow.

Our source of light and heat!

Water Works

I attended the funeral for my dear neighbor yesterday. He was 75. As I drove to the funeral small rain drops splashed on my windshield. I was reminded of the other funerals I attended and how almost everyone had rain within 24 hours. I first noticed when my neighbor passed away growing up. The morning he passed away, there was a nice light rain as I walked to school. The song Holes in the Floor of Heaven was popular at the time. I remember thinking the rain was his way and God’s way of reminding us they were there, by pouring water through the holes in floors of Heaven. Ever since I have just felt like the rain was some way of washing away the pain, the sadness, and a reminder that some day I’d be on the other side of the holes in the floor of Heaven.

The funeral was nice, nice as funerals can be I suppose. I was surprised to not see more of our neighbors in attendance. As I listened to the stories of his life and watched the slideshow full of their family memories, I thought about the impression we are all making at this moment. I thought about the photos in our mind and on our cameras, what story do they tell? My cousin has a blog that keeps us up to date on her family. I always love looking at the pictures. She has two beautiful daughters. Their wonder about the world, intelligent little songs and sentences, always tell a story. I always imagine this is just the very beginning of two beautiful lives. I always look forward to seeing their stories continue to unfold.

After the funeral and some short reflection time in the car, I got busy writing my paper or at least doing the reading for it! After a few hours I left for an event related to work. I am always amazed that no matter how many tearful events I go to, I always cry. When I started my job, I thought I would become slightly desensitized to all the sad stories. Nope. I cry or at least tear up every single time. Don’t worry, in the end I was laughing again and SO proud of the people I work with. They are amazing, absolutely amazing.

After one long day, I headed back home to finish my paper. This morning I planned to sleep a little bit, but woke up to the sound of shovels removing snow. We are also having our bathroom finished. I got to work to find an e-mail from an outraged individual. In a nut shell, the e-mail is not only emotionally abusive and harassing, it’s down right degrading. I so desperately want to sit down with this individual and make them realize I am not just a robot responding to e-mails. I am a human being. Fortunately, my supervisor is helping with this situation, but it is still draining.

The heavy snow on the ground, the grey skies, and the cold air make me want to crawl into my flannel sheets and hibernate. I just need some time to sleep and be. I am on the road tomorrow. In fact having time to sleep in is not looking good through the about the second week in March. The nice thing about being on the road is having ample quiet time to process everything in life.

Just checked the weather report one more time. Snow is on the way for tomorrow, maybe I won't be traveling after all! We'll wait and see. I do need to go out and get some materials to make my sister's graduation invitations. I will probably post a photo of those soon!