Gimme shelter...

Today I mostly stayed at home: it is less than 10 degrees outside, I am exhausted after being with a friend and her family through her death and I needed to regroup. The emotional toll that being present and alive with people during hard times takes on me is always a shock - and I am always blown away at how tired I become. Michael Hedges captures it sooooo well:

After a memorial service and some church administrative meetings on Wednesday, we're going to take the train to NYC to visit our daughter and son-in-law for a few days. This was already in the planning before the death of my colleague, but it is GREAT timing. In addition to seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls on exhibit at the Jewish Museum, we'll go to MOMA and St. John the Divine (recently restored), have great Middle Eastern food with the kids and listen to Irish music in a pub. I am soooo freakin' ready to be on the other side of this death but... the time table is not mine to control.

Sort of like Advent itself, yes? Made me think of this...