Journaling

I'm breaking one of my personal rules as I write this morning.

Because I enjoy writing this blog so much and because I typically write first thing in the morning, I established a rule for myself. "No writing until after devotions time." And this works pretty well with one exception; my personal journal time has been seriously curtailed. And today.........I need to journal.

As many of you know, my precious mom moved to Heaven nineteen months ago. (I was pondering last night. I guess it's like with children, you mark the months until two years then it becomes "Two years. Two and a half years. Three years." Sigh. Nothing really seems quite right about marking the passing of a loved one.)

Bottom line, my mom is no longer the one to answer the phone when I call; nor will she ever be again. We had a little ritual every Saturday: I dial their number. Ring. Ring. Mom picks up the phone and short of breath says, "Maranatha! Burke's Residence." "Hi Mama. It's me. How are you?" "Oh, hey Baby. I'm blessed, thank you." (Spoken with the thickest of southern accents.) And we'd go on from there; something so comforting about rituals, isn't there?

At the funeral, countless people commented about the fact that whenever they asked Mom how she was doing, her unfailing response was, "I'm Blessed, thank you! How are you?" Answer the question; turn the spotlight. That was Mom's mode of operation.

I had mentioned a few weeks back that my dad had been talking a lot about a particular friend who had actually become a "Special Lady" in his life. S.L. (as we call her) is still around. And last week while Vonnie (my sister, who lives in NC) and her family were visiting dad, they were taken to meet S.L. Hmmmmm.

Change is seldom easy but it is inevitable. And it appears that more change is just around the corner for my extended family.

S.L. is actually a very nice lady and if I met her at a conference or somewhere generic, I'm sure we would hit it off quickly. But my dad is introducing her to us for a very specific reason; nothing generic about this. And I think I'd rather stick my head in the sand right now.

He wants her to answer the phone on Saturdays; meet us on the porch when we come home for holidays; call the family to the dining room when dinner is ready; mail the birthday cards.

Can anyone besides the real mama do those things? Yeah.........I don't know.

Last time I wrote about this, several of you who have already navigated these snake-y waters left comments of wisdom and encouragement. I genuinely appreciated you taking time to do that. There is comfort in knowing that others have made the adjustment successfully. And I'm sure we will too; there are just more tears involved than I originally supposed.

Yep, it's definitely a journaling sort of day. But one thing is for certain - I'm blessed. Hope your day is blessed too!